Ranma's Forsaken
by Shritistrang
Summary: As a young boy, Ranma has unknowingly stumbled into the forest of Quel'Thalas, home of the High Elves... but upon his return, the girl he had met there has turned into something dark... Warcraft crossover.
1. Elven rangers and martial artists

The blue dragon hatchling giggled as she skipped through the massive cave.

"Princess!" a soft voice shouted. "Princess, where have you run off to?"

The hatchling looked back over her blue-scaled back. "Oh noes, she's coming to get me... I gotta hide!"

She looked around, but saw nothing where she could hide from the monster that was chasing her. Then her gaze fell into a passageway, which lead into another cavern. And onto thousands of magical treasures and artifacts that were lying piled onto another.

It was the main hoard of her father, she knew that. She also knew she wasn't allowed to touch anything in there until she learned to use the magic that was a part of every blue dragon.

But like so many young children, Tyri didn't always listen to her parents... so she quickly darted into the cavern, and on the slick cavern floor, she slid directly into the huge hoard and underneath the mountain of treasures.

A tall, elven woman dressed in a blue robe came along. "Princess? Princess Tyrygosa, it's time for your studies!"

Tyri didn't budge. She knew that the beautiful elf was in truth the Matron Protectorate... and she didn't really want to join the adult she-dragon on another lecture of Azerothian history.

Haleh, Mother Protectorate of the blue flight, shook her head. "Honestly, the nerve of that young whelp... barely able to cast her first spell, and she believes she can waste my whole day like that. I will have to have a serious word with Lord Malygos..."

Tyri almost yelped when she heard that. If her father learned about this, she would be in serious trouble.

She waited until Haleh had left, then she crawled out of the treasures. "Good thing I'm a blue dragon," she giggled. "Which means I can always cast a spell to get away with everything..."

Of course, as a young whelp, she needed a bit more magic than her own. Fortunately for her, she was inside the hoard of her father... where the most powerful artifacts in all of Azeroth were stored.

"Just a little thing to get me out of trouble..." Tyri muttered and began to dig through the pile of artifacts. She took a few gems, goblets, amulets and bracelets, shook her head and threw them to the side.

"Too bland... too small... too ugly... too eye-catching... oooooohh!"

Her eyes sparkled when she beheld the gorgeous, glowing orb. It was surrounded by a golden frame that ran around its middle and constantly changed its colors from green to blue to a brownish yellow and back again to green.

"Pretty..." she murmured and stared deeply into the orbs. Colorful clouds were swirling in the inside, changing colors as quickly as the orb itself. Her eyes widened when the clouds parted and she gazed at a kingdom she had never seen before.

"How odd..." she murmured. "Those humans are sitting in wagons that move by neither horses nor magic..." As a young whelp, the concept of technology was unknown to young Tyrygosa. But even if she knew of the Dwarven steam tanks and the Gnomish Mechanostriders, she would be amazed at the sheer number of mechanical vehicles.

"And those buildings, they are as tall as mountains... does every human in that kingdom live in a castle?"

Then she something else interesting. She saw the countryside, and how a human was training his little son in some sort of unarmed combat.

She giggled. "That man is so fat! But the boy is cute..."

Then the image changed, and she could see a young girl with purple hair... but she definitely wasn't a night elf. She was surrounded by many other humans... but most of them were female. The only male Tyri could see was a young boy with huge glasses who stood in front of the purple-haired girl.

"Shampoo never marry stupid Mousse!" she girl shouted and punched the boy's head.

"I never knew humans were this amusing," Tyri chuckled. "Let's take another look..."

The next scene showed her the inside of a human house, and a family was sitting at the table. A father and his three lovely daughters, but no mother. Tyri sighed... she knew how it was to be raised with no mother.

The eldest daughter was helping her father to set the table, while the second one read in a book.

"Akane-chan," the oldest sister then smiled. "That polite Kuno boy was here while you and Nabiki were swimming..."

"...or drowning, in her case..." the middle sister muttered.

"Well, and he asked if you would be interested to visit him. His family has this big mansion, you know?"

"No way!" the smallest girl grimaced and stuck out her tongue. "Boys are yucky!"

When she heard heavy footsteps approaching, Tyri yelped and nearly dropped the glowing orb. "Oh no, that's Daddy!" she squeaked. "Magic, please help me not to get into trouble..."

And just as Haleh had taught her, she focussed all her Mana on the artifact.

Still, she made the error of believing that any artifact could be used for any magical affect... and that was a fatal mistake! Not knowing what she was doing, the young hatchling activated the powerful artifact's dormant powers... the powers that connected the dimension she had seen with her own home world, Azeroth...

Just a minute later, a massive, reptilian head that was covered with azure scales appeared in the entrance of the huge cavern. "This smell..." he grumbled. "Daughter, is that you?"

Tyri winced and hoped for the best. Now that her Daddy had scented her, there was no way she could talk her way out of this. She carefully dropped the glowing orb to the floor and came out from behind the treasure pile. "Yes, father?" she asked in her sweetest voice.

The Dragon Aspect of Magic frowned. Whenever his daughter used that tone of voice, there was something she didn't want to tell him. "Why aren't you studying with Haleh?" he finally asked.

"Aww, but she's so boring..." Tyri whined. "Every day she comes with the same old stuff..."

"Tyrygosa, you are the princess of the Blue Flight, and as such, you need to know those things. Do you want that young Kalecgos takes a mate that is as unintelligent as an ogre?"

"No, father..." Tyri sighed. "But can't I take a break from studying?"

Malygos looked down at his young daughter. "Very well..." he finally said. "For the rest of the day, you may enjoy your free time. I will tell Haleh to continue with your lessons tomorrow in the morning.

"Yay!" the little hatchling cheered. "Um, I mean... thank you, father!" And excitedly, she ran outside.

Malygos sighed deeply. Was there ever a time when he was this young? If there was, he certainly did not remember.

'It is time to take stock of my hoarded artifacts again,' he thought.

But unbeknown to him, the glowing artifact was still lying in one corner of his hoard, transmitting its magic across the borders of the dimension Azeroth was in, past the Twisting Nether, and into the dimension where a certain boy named Ranma Saotome was living...

* * *

"All right, boy!" Genma said with a proud smirk. "This new technique I'm going to teach you will help you in any battle."

"Um... it doesn't include cats and fish sausage?" the little boy shivered.

"No, none of that," his father assured him. Ranma sighed in relief.

"Well then, it goes like this..." Genma took on a martial arts stance and moved through the motions needed to do this attack. When he had finished his kata, he turned around to face his son.

"Now, Ranma, you try it your... self?"

He was very surprised when he saw that Ranma had vanished. "Ranma? What happened?"

He then gasped. "Could he... could he have mastered the Umisenken... by just looking at my kata? My goodness, I have such a talented son..."

* * *

Ranma looked around. "Pops? What kind of technique is this? How did it take me here?"

He wasn't with his father anymore. He was standing inside a deep forest, with mighty trees that grew taller than he had ever seen. He could hear the voices of birds and other animals around him. Never before had he been surrounded by wilderness like that.

Ranma shivered. "Where am I? Pops, I don't like this training anymore... can you take me back now?"

But there was no reply.

Suddenly, Ranma felt very lonely. "I don't like this place..." he murmured. He slowly began walking... and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the girl standing in front of him.

She didn't look much older than he was, but she was dressed in very unusual clothes made of leather. She had long, blonde hair and, curiously, very long and pointy ears that were almost as long as her whole head.

"What are you doing here, human?" she asked in a high voice. "These forests belong to the elves of Quel'Thalas... humans don't belong here."

Ranma didn't know what she was talking about, but his father had taught him to be polite to females. "My name is Ranma Saotome," he introduced himself. "And I'm gonna be the best martial artist in the world!"

"Martial artist?" the elf girl frowned. "What's that supposed to be?"

"You don't know that? Martial artists are the most powerful fighters there are!"

"That can't be true," the girl shouted. "My mother told me that no one could beat an elven ranger in combat."

"Well, what does she know?" Ranma asked. "She's a girl and everyone knows that girls can't fight."

"You insult me, human!" she shouted. "My mother is one of the best rangers of Quel'Thalas... and when we are bigger, my sisters and I are gonna be rangers, too!"

"They obviously can't be that strong if there are so many girls..." Ranma grumbled. "Pops says females aren't good warriors."

"Your father is just a human, so what does he know about our traditions? I say elven rangers are the best!"

"No, martial artists are the best!"

"Elven rangers!"

"Martial artists!"

"Elven rangers!"

"Martial artists!"

Angrily, the elf girl screamed like a banshee and ran at Ranma, tackling him to the floor. That took Ranma by surprise, but then he remembered the teachings of his old man and tried to pin the girl down himself.

But she wasn't just any girl, her family were the best elven rangers of Quel'Thalas, and she knew it. She knew many survival tricks Ranma could only dream of.

So the tussle between the two children went on for a while. Sometimes, Ranma was on top, sometimes the elf girl. In the end, they let go of each other and sat down on the forest floor, panting heavily.

"You... you are very good," the girl stuttered. "For a human, that is..."

"Thanks!" Ranma smirked. "And you... are good... for a girl! What's your name?"

"I am Sylvanas!" she said with a smile. "Sylvanas Windrunner!"

"Pleased to meetcha!" Ranma smiled back.

And with a sudden giggle, Sylvanas threw some leaves into his face. Ranma gasped, smirked and threw some leaves at her as well. The children laughed and jumped to the feet, running through the forest, next to each other, boy and girl, human and high elf.

Ranma didn't know how long they spent like this, chasing each other, climbing trees and just having a good time, but then a stern voice could be heard through the trees:

"Sylvanas! Where are you?"

"Oh no, that's my mother!" Sylvanas winced. "When she sees you here... quick, you have to go back where you came from!"

"I... I would like to..." Ranma muttered. "But I dunno how..."

Sylvanas peered down the tree they were just sitting on and gasped when she saw the tall form of an elven woman coming through the forest.

"Sylvanas! Come, it is time to go home!" she shouted.

"That's my Mom!" Salvanas whispered. "Quick, you have to... leave?" She blinked when she looked to where Ranma had been sitting just a second ago. There was no trace of him left. It was almost as if he had never been there...

"Sylvanas, what are you doing up there?"

The elf girl nearly fell off the branch she was sitting on. "Um... hunting dragonhawks?" she grinned sheepishly.

Her mother sighed. "You still have much to learn before you can become a true elven ranger, Sylvanas... now come down, it's getting late."

"Oh, don't you worry, Mom!" Sylvanas grinned. "One day, I will become the best!"

* * *

"Ranma!" Genma shouted. "Ranma, come out! You can use the Umisenken now, I can see that... but you really can show yourself again! Where are you, boy?"

"I'm here, Pops!" Ranma spoke up from directly behind his father.

Genma nearly jumped in surprise. "R-ranma!" he stuttered. "Don't scare your father like that. But I am very proud of you, you mastered the secret technique with no effort... how did you manage to do it so quickly? It took me a long time before I could use it..."

Ranma looked at his father in confusion. "What secret technique, Pops? Your technique just brought me into that forest, where I met that elf girl and..."

Genma sighed. "My boy... if you want to stop your training for today and play, why didn't you say so? I didn't teach you to tell me lies, you know?"

"But that was no lie!" Ranma protested. "Sylvanas was there, and she was really nice, and she is a pretty good fighter and..."

Genma snorted. "Now I know your story is just made up, boy... there's no way that any girl could beat my Ranma!"

* * *

Malygos sighed with relief as he looked down at the glowing orb in his claw. He was glad that he managed to find and deactivate it before the open path between the dimensions would cause any permanent damage. Right after he had noticed that the Dimensional Seal was missing, he had searched through his cavern and quickly found it. He used his powerful magic to seal the gateway between worlds, making sure that nobody came through.

'That could have ended much worse...' the Blue Dragon Aspect thought to himself. 'If only one human from that outside world had entered Azeroth, the balance of order would be in great danger.'

"I will have to give Tyrygosa a stern chiding for what she has done..." he grumbled. "But it is my own fault... why didn't I seal off my main hoard the last time? It was just a matter of time before a young whelp or something even worse had entered this room..."

He carefully placed the Dimensional Seal back to where it belonged and smiled with satisfaction when he saw how the colorful clouds covered all traces of any other-wordly image.

He then left the cavern of his main hoard, this time making sure that the entrance was properly sealed.

* * *

"I'm telling ya, oneechan, I was in a real castle!" Akane grinned. The little girl jumped up and down excitedly. "And I met a real prince... not a poser like Kuno! You believe me, don't you, Kasumi?"

"Of course I do, Akane-chan!" Kasumi smiled. "And I'm sure he was the perfect gentleman... now, why don't you go and tell Daddy that dinner is ready?"

"Okee dokee!" Akane smiled and ran out of the room.

Kasumi shook her head. Her little sister had such an active imagination... she wondered if she was like this when she was that age.

While Akane walked up to Nabiki's room, she couldn't stop grinning. "When I'm bigger, I will return to your castle, my prince! And then I'm gonna marry you... oh, my dear Prince Arthas..."


	2. The annual visit

From that day on, Tyrygosa wasn't able to sneak into her father's hoard again anymore. Malygos made sure of that. Being extra cautious, he put the glowing sphere into a separate chest, locked it with a magical key and put it into one of the hoard's back rooms.

But in spite of being one of the most powerful, magical beings on Azeroth, he was not able to feel that the artifact was still active. He didn't manage to close the gateway between the worlds, he just... put it in a dormant state.

And by the time the artifact had recharged itself, exactly one year has passed in the Earth dimension...

* * *

Ranma sighed as he lay down on his back and looked at the stars.

"Today was a good day," his father smiled. "You have learned a lot since we began this trip, my boy!"

"Hmmmm..." his son sighed.

Genma looked at him. "What's wrong, Ranma? Something on your mind?"

"Huh? Oh, Pops, I was just thinking... I mean, do you know that it was one year ago that I met Sylvanas?"

Genma sighed. "Ranma, we've talked about this... this elf girl is nothing but a figment of your imagination. The only thing I know is that exactly one year ago, my hopes were crushed when I believed you would be able to use the Umisenken..."

"Sorry, Pops... but, you know, if she really was a figment of my imagination, then she was the nicest figment I have ever met..."

Genma shook his head. "Keep on dreaming, boy... as long as it doesn't distract you from your training... I'm going to sleep now. Good night..."

And shortly afterwards, the air was filled with the snoring of the Saotome patriarch.

Ranma, however, did stay up for a little longer. "I wonder what she is doing right now..." he muttered. "For a girl, she was really strong..."

Ranma didn't know this, but it was this moment when the Dimensional Seal decided to activate itself again. And in the blink of an eye, Ranma disappeared out of his sleeping bag... and reappeared directly on top of a girl with blonde hair.

Sylvanas gasped. She had just been aiming at the biggest stag she had seen in this forest, but just as she was about to shoot her arrow, something heavy fell down on top of her.

"What the...?" she gasped. The stag turned around his head, and dashed off.

The teenaged high elf groaned in disappointment. She then shoved the boy who had been landing on her away and shook him by his shirt. "You! It's your fault that I didn't get that stag! What do you have to say for yourself?"

Ranma's head was spinning. When he recognized the person that was shaking him, he frowned. "Sylvanas?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Do I know you?"

"Of course, I'm Ranma!" the boy smiled. "Don't you remember me? We climbed trees together last year." He took a closer look at her. "Wow, how did you become so big?"

"You... but... that was more than five years ago..." she muttered. "And I know humans grow older much faster than elves..."

"Five years? No way, it was exactly one year ago, I know that."

She sat down next to him and shook her head. "Where do you come from, Ranma? I mean... I knew there was this boy I met when I was a little kid, but now I'm learning to become a true Elven Ranger..."

"You told me you wanted to become one," Ranma smiled. "But why has so much time passed for you, when I know that I have see you one year ago?"

"That is the question..." the elf girl pondered. "I believe you, since you don't look much older from when I last saw you... but that doesn't make any sense, as a human, you should at least be a young adult by now."

"Does that matter?" Ranma asked. "I was so hoping I could see you again... hey, you wanna play in the leaves again?"

Sylvanas chuckled. "Ranma, I'm not a little kid anymore... right now, I'm on the hunt for my family. I was about to shoot the biggest stag in the forest... too bad he got scared when you arrived..."

"I'm sorry..." Ranma said in an apologetic voice.

"It's not that bad, kiddo," she grinned and ruffled his hair. "But say, you are a pretty strange human. I didn't quite realize it the first time you were here, but I have never seen any clothes like you are wearing. Where are you from?"

Ranma smiled. "I'm really from Tokyo, but my Pops and I are travelling through all of Japan, on a training trip. He even said we would go to China when I'm bigger."

Sylvanas frowned. "Tokyo? China? I've never heard of those kingdoms before... are they close to Lordaeron or Stormwind?"

Ranma scratched his head. "I dunno, I haven't heard of those before."

"You really are a mystery, little friend..." Sylvanas muttered. "Maybe I should introduce you to my family..."

"But didn't you say you were on the hunt?" Ranma wondered. "Let me help you find something else you can take home instead of the stag."

"Well, I'm not sure if you could be of any help, Ranma," Sylvanas said.

"Sure I can! My Pops and I are always on the road and eat what we can get. Please let me help..."

"You know what, Ranma? Let me do the shooting, and I'm gonna show you how it's done. Okay?"

"Okay!" Ranma smiled happily.

Ranma and Sylvanas spent the next hour together in the forest, searching for an animal Sylvanas could hunt and bring home to her family. They didn't play like the last time Ranma came for a visit, but he still had fun. Sylvanas explained to him what Elven Rangers did to cover their tracks and how they were able to silently move through the thicket. She also told him that a true hunter was quiet, so the animals didn't hear him.

When they finally found another stag, Sylvanas whispered: "Be very quiet now, Ranma!" Ranma watched with fascination as she took an arrow out of her quiver and took aim.

'This stag is not as big as the one I saw before, but he'll do,' she thought.

The arrow made no noise as it flew through the air and embedded itself in the stag's flesh. The animal let out a small cry, then it fell down to the ground.

"I did it!" Sylvanas grinned. "This will be more than enough for dinner. Ranma, that really was..."

But when she turned around, the boy had already vanished.

She sighed. "Too bad... but somehow, I have the feeling I will see him again..."

Ranma nearly fell over in surprise when he appeared back on his sleeping bag.

"Awww, over already?" he sighed. "Oh well... but it was fun."

He looked over to where his father was peacefully sleeping and snickered. "I'll bet Pops won't believe me either this time... I guess it's gonna be our little secret."

He lay down to sleep again. Before closing his eyes, he thought: 'For some reason, I have the feeling that I will see her again next year...'

* * *

And from now on, Ranma and Sylvanas would meet every year. They were never able to find out how Ranma managed to get to Quel'Thalas and back, but they were each year looking forward to meet each other again. For Sylvanas, it was always five years she had to wait, while Ranma only had to wait one year. And even though Sylvanas was slowly becoming more and more mature than her childhood friend, she always felt younger when she was with him. And like he, she never told her family of their encounters.

And Ranma wasn't the only child from Earth that was brought to Azeroth. Several other children from Japan and China appeared close to their respective Azerothian friends on an annual basis. And they didn't know it, but the Dimensional Seal did not just carry them across dimensions, but also through time. That was the reason why the time span between their meetings differed in several cases.

* * *

Sayuri frowned when she heard how Akane began to tell another tale of her 'fairy tale prince' at school.

"Hey, Nabiki!" she whispered to Akane's older sister during lunch break. "You know how Akane always comes up with that stuff? Again and again she tells us about this handsome prince who lives in a castle and wants to marry her... you know, at times, it even sounds as if she actually believes that such a prince is actually waiting for her."

Nabiki shrugged. "Well, if Akane thinks he's real... as long as she doesn't bother me with it, I'm fine with it."

Sayuri stared at her. "You think it's OKAY that Akane believes in such a... such a fairy tale? Nabiki, that doesn't sound like you at all. Is there any reason for you to support these weird ideas?"

"N-no special reason..." Nabiki muttered. She didn't really want to know how Sayuri or others would react if they found out about her own unusual... acquaintance she met every year. She thought back to last night, when she had once again appeared in the workshop of a certain, small, green-skinned man...

* * *

"So remember this, kiddo!" the goblin told the young girl standing next to his desk. "Rule Number One for all businessmen... and -women... 'Money makes the world go round!' If you can see, feel and touch anything, you can buy it. And everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, can be sold. There are ALWAYS some people who need stuff that is junk for other people. Always keep your eyes and mind open, and you will make a fortune in this world. Mark my words, girl!"

"Hai, sensei!" Nabiki gushed as she looked up at the not handsome, but sly goblin. Never before in her life had she met a man who knew so much about money, who was so CLEVER!

Gazlowe smiled. "You know girl, you are still young, but I have the feeling that one day, you might just have your own, successful little business, just like me!"

* * *

"So you see, little girl, this world is full of invisible creatures, spirits that are holding the earth and sky together. And if you can see and talk to them, you might even know how to use their gifts. Our race has long ago followed this path, before it became corrupted and more and more shamans chose to become warlocks... but your race, the humans, aren't that close to nature, they prefer to use arcane magic instead of listening to nature and its spirits... and that's why I believe that it will be difficult for you to learn how to use the same spells as I do, even when you grow up. Now, could I satisfy your curiosity?"

The purple-haired girl looked up at the towering form of the orc with a frown. She then shook her head. "No, Shampoo still not know how your skin is all green."

And Drek'Thar, elder shaman of the Frostwolf clan, sweatdropped.


	3. Sunwell Interference

A couple of years later, Ranma was still on the road with his father. He had learned quite a few things, but was still a student.

One day, while father and son were sparring, Genma noticed how unusually cheerful his son was today. Even the most harsh training methods weren't enough to take a certain smile off his face.

"Boy, you make the impression that you are looking forward to something," Genma spoke up during one of their breaks. "We're having no special lunch today, and there is no prize for winning against me, you know that, don't you?"

"Yeah, Pops," Ranma said. "But that isn't why I'm so excited today."

"So?" the elder Saotome asked while raising his eyebrows. "What is the reason then?"

Ranma grinned. "I'm going to see Sylvanas again today?"

Genma sweatdropped. "You... you're still talking about that girl? Ranma, you're 13 now... don't you think you're a bit old for such games?"

"It's not a game!" Ranma frowned. "Up to now, I've met Sylvanas every year, and it was always the same day of the year... and that's today!" He smirked. "Don't be surprised when I'll disappear some time during training... cause that's when I'm gonna go to Sylvanas!"

Genma shook his head. "You have a weird imagination, boy... the only reason I'm not telling you to stop talking such nonsense is that it doesn't seem to affect your battle skills. But I am still worried about you, son..."

"No need to, Pops," Ranma said. "I'll be fine. Sylvanas has become a true ranger the last time I met her. That was one year ago... but for her, I guess it must have been a few more years..."

Genma didn't understand a word. "If he keeps this up, I'm going to have to send him to a doctor..." he grumbled.

The day passed by without Ranma disappearing. But since it had quite often happened that he appeared in Quel'Thalas while going to bed, he wasn't too worried. When he lay down on his sleeping bag, he was very excited.

"Just a few minutes now..." he whispered. "And then I'm going to see Sylvanas again..."

He didn't know that Genma was watching him from his own sleeping place. He wanted to keep a close eye on his son this night. These absurd stories his son kept telling him about elves and a magical forest were getting out of hand. He still didn't believe they were true, but if his son disappeared during the night, he would know there was something going on.

'I'm going to stay awake at least until midnight,' Genma thought. 'Ranma will have to stop this nonsense when I can prove that he stayed with me all day long.'

So the two Saotomes waited.

Meanwhile, in her bed in Nerima, Akane Tendo was nervously awaiting her own return to Prince Arthas. The last time she had seen him, he had told her of his plans to become a paladin. She was itching to find out if he had become one in the time of her absence.

They didn't know that right now, a horrible scene was taking place in the forests of Quel'Thalas...

* * *

Sylvanas Windrunner was lying on the ground, grasping a deep wound on her chest. All around her, the air was filled with the stench of death, while the undead scourge was rampaging through her beloved homeland, leaving a trail of decay and horror behind.

She was dying. She knew it. The last blow her opponent had landed on her was a mortal one. She would accept her fate. After all, she had failed to do her duty... Quel'Thalas and the capital of Silvermoon would fall under the ferocity of the scourge.

The young Ranger General looked up at the dark, looming figure in the black armor that was standing above her.

"Finish it!" she hissed. "I deserve a clean death!"

The Death Knight smirked. "After all you've put me through, woman... the last thing I'll give you is the peace of death."

He approached her with slow steps. After all, his victim was helpless and wouldn't escape. He was going to enjoy this. His corrupted soul would savor the moment. He raised his rune blade...

Sylvanas gasped when she realized what he was about to do.

"No! You wouldn't dare!"

But the Death Knight knew no mercy. Chanting dark words, he used the new powers his pact with evil had given him. Ghostly wisps danced around his glowing blade, while the fallen paladin reached out with his left hand.

Sylvanas' body twitched. Her tormentor's face took on a diabolic sneer as he twisted his hand around... and pulled it backwards.

Sylvanas let out a shrill scream while her soul was pulled out of her body... taking on the cursed form of a damned spirit, a banshee. And the scream of the dying high elf turned into the tormented wail of the undead.

Just a short time later, the troops of the scourge invaded the elven capital, Silvermoon... and corrupted their ancient source of magic, the Sunwell.

Arthas and his personal servant watched as the powerful energies of the Sunwell discharged themselves in a spectacular explosion of light and magic... and became infested by the dark powers the undead were controlling. Sylvanas was forced to watch the destruction of her homeland and the future of her people, as she was bound to the will of the man who killed her, the most loyal follower to the Lich King...

The Death Knight called Arthas.

The powerful eruptions of magic broke even through the ether, interrupting all interdimensional passageways and destroying the corridor the Dimensional Seal had created.

* * *

Ranma's eyes widened as he abruptly sat up. "S-sylvanas!" he gasped.

Genma frowned. "What's wrong, boy?" he grumbled, pretending to be half-asleep.

"P-pops..." Ranma stuttered. "What... what time is it?"

"Time to sleep, Ranma!" Genma grumbled. "Past midnight, at least."

"I... I couldn't go to her..." Ranma murmured. "I wasn't able to visit her. Why, Pops? Why?"

"Because that was all just a stupid dream!" Genma insisted. "Go back to sleep, boy! A martial artist needs to rest, too."

Genma was very satisfied. Now his son would believe that this elf woman was nothing but a figment of his imagination.

But Ranma could feel that something was wrong. He had been sure that he would be brought back to Quel'Thalas today. He could feel how his body was pulled away from this place... but then, it was abruptly dropped back. He couldn't understand it. Didn't Sylvanas want to see him anymore? Did her family find out about this? Or did something worse happen?

He wrapped himself in his sleeping bag. "Sylvanas..." he muttered. "Please be okay..."

And at the same time, all the children that had been visiting their friends on Azeroth were dismayed when they found out that were forced to stay at home this night.

In the Tendo home, two sisters were as worried as Ranma was.

"Sensei Gazlowe..." Nabiki murmured.

At the same time, her sister Akane felt an unexplainable chill running down her spine. "Arthas..." she whispered. "What happened to you?"

And similar scenes happened in other places of Japan and China.

"Drek'Thar..."

"Master Cairne..."

"Illidan-sama..."

* * *

Ranma winced when the softball hit his head.

"Yo, Ranma! Are you sleeping, buddy?" Hiroshi asked.

The tall, pig-tailed martial artist shook his head. "Sorry, I must have zoned out there..." he muttered.

He tried to concentrate back on the game, but he couldn't quite focus on what he was doing. When P.E. was over, the teacher asked him if he had slept well.

But there was certain reason why Ranma was deep in thought. On this day, six years ago, he had last seen an old childhood friend of his... a person his father had always believed to be the dream of a child.

But Ranma had never been able to forget Sylvanas. During all these years, he had hoped to be able to return to her some day. It wasn't love he felt for her... that was reserved for Akane, even before he had saved her from Saffron and the phoenix people. No, Sylvanas was a very special, very close friend, much like Ukyo, but at the same time, totally different, and yet, even more special than his friendship with Ukyo, his love to Akane, his rivalry to Ryoga and his antipathy to Kuno could ever be.

As he did every year on this special day, he wondered how he had been able to visit Sylvanas in Quel'Thalas and why that wasn't the case anymore. He also realized that he had never asked Sylvanas more about her home world. He had mentioned a few human kingdoms at times, and a war the elves had with a tribe of trolls... but since Ranma was a child back then, he had never really tried to remember everything.

Last year, Ranma had been tempted to ask the only person he knew that knew enough about magic and might have an idea how all of this had happened... but his memories of Sylvanas were just too special, and he wasn't going to make Cologne the first person to tell her his secret. He hadn't even shared it with Akane...

Speaking about Akane... when the two of them were walking back home, Ranma noticed that she seemed to be as deep in thought as he was. Come to think about it, she hadn't even been upset when Ukyo came up to him during today's lunch break, a big smile on her face, with a big okonomiyaki ready for her Ranchan. Normally, this was enough for his fiancee to send him on a trip via Akane Airlines, but not this time. She just looked up, frowned at Ukyo and looked back into her lap, leaving her lunch untouched.

"Yo, Akane!" Ranma asked, walking up next to her. "Something on your mind?"

"Hmm? Oh, Ranma! I was just... thinking..." she said.

"Thinking, huh? Yeah, I've seen that. But that's okay, I guess... I mean, I have been pretty out of it for most of the day, too..."

"You too?" Akane wondered. "What were you thinking about?"

Ranma hesitated. This was a pretty big secret, and except for his father, he had told nobody about it. To tell the truth, he was a bit worried that others wouldn't believe him.

"Akane... we're engaged, right?"

Akane blinked. "Uh, yeah, we knew that ever since you and your father arrived at our dojo. But what...?"

"We really do wanna marry some day, right?" Ranma asked. "I mean, on that day when I saved you from Saffron... I sorta realized that you really are serious about this."

Akane blushed. "W-well, I guess you're not quite the pervert I always thought you were..."

"Um, decent of ya to say so..."

"And you're not that big of a jerk, most of the time..."

"Okay... thanks, I guess..."

"And while you are as stubborn as all boys are at times, I've pretty much learned to live with it..."

Ranma sweatdropped. "Okay, that's a bit too much honesty for my tastes..."

"So, to answer your question: Yes, I am serious about this! Why do you ask?"

Ranma scratched the back of his head as he stopped all of a sudden. Akane stopped as well and looked at him in confusion.

"Well, this is kind of a big secret I'm about to tell ya... I've kept it a secret for many years, and never told anyone... so, it'd be decent of ya if you'd keep this a secret, ya know?"

Now Akane was intrigued. She had her own secret, but Ranma? She never knew he could be this secretive. And he had rarely acted as hesitant as he did right now.

Still, she didn't think he'd have a secret as big as hers...

"Ranma, what are you talking about?" she wondered.

"Um, y'know... can we continue this in private? I really don't wanna anyone to hear us... and, y'know, someone almost jumps on us every day, and I'd never tell this to Shampoo, or Kodachi, or Ryoga..."

"Okay, um... let's go to the bridge."

A few minutes later, they were sitting next to the bridge, at the edge of the Nerima canal.

"So, Ranma," Akane said with an amused smile. "What is this 'big secret' of yours?"

Ranma took a deep breath. "Akane... when I was a little kid, eight years old, I guess... I disappeared from my daily training with Pops and vanished to a big forest."

Akane blinked. "You ran away, you mean?"

"Um, no, I actually disappeared right in front of Pops' eyes... he actually believed I had mastered the Umisenken." He chuckled. "But in fact, I wasn't really in Japan anymore, or in China, for that matter... to tell ya the truth, I don't think I was even on Earth..."

Akane shuddered. Ranma couldn't be telling him what she thought he was... was he?

"Well, and in this forest, I met this girl... she was just as little as me back then... but the most amazing thing is, she wasn't really a human girl. She had these long ears, ya know... And I know this sounds crazy, but she was an actual elf, Akane! Like in Tolkien, y'know?"

"Ranma..." she muttered. "This... elf girl... did she tell you... how her home was called?"

"Of course!" Ranma said. "After all, I've visited her a couple of times afterwards, once a year, to be exact. So I learned much about her home land. It's called Quel'Thalas, and she and her family lived close to a big town... 'Silvermoon' it was called, I guess..."

Akane gasped. Quel'Thalas... the boy she knew from her childhood had told her quite a few things about that land and the mysterious elves that lived there.

Under normal circumstances, she would have never believed Ranma. But since she had her own memories of a boy that was from a faraway kingdom, a fairy tale prince...

"Ranma... I have something similar to tell you," she finally spoke up. "I... also met someone when I was that age."

"What?" Ranma shouted. "You too?"

"Yes," she nodded. "A boy... a young prince from a kingdom called... Lordaeron."

"Lordaeron! But that was one of the human kingdoms Sylvanas told me about..."

Akane smiled. "Sylvanas... is that her name?"

"Y-yeah..." Ranma stuttered. "S-so... you've met a prince, huh? I thought you didn't like arrogant nobles..."

"Arthas wasn't like that, Ranma," Akane sighed. "He was the most charming young man I've ever met. And... to tell you the truth, he was my first childhood crush. I know we could have never had a future, but just like you, I was a young child and I was certain that Arthas and I would marry some day." She giggled and hid her face in her hands. "So silly... but yeah, I remember him as a good friend right now, nothing more. Too bad I wasn't able to see him anymore ever since..."

"Ever since that day we never saw them again..." Ranma muttered.

They looked at each other.

"Looks like we had a similar secret from each other, huh?" Akane asked.

Ranma nodded. "Yeah... did you ever tell anyone?"

"Um... Daddy and Kasumi, but nobody else. Not even Nabiki... and Mom was already dead at the time."

"Oh... I see. So... ya think the reason for why we can't see them again might be the same?"

"Possibly," Akane shrugged. "I really don't know how we could have gotten there in the first place..."

"Magic," Ranma muttered. "Only explanation I have. I wish I knew more about this... but I don't think I'd ever be ready to tell the old ghoul about this."

Akane snickered. "No, I didn't think so." She smirked. "So... about Sylvanas... how was she?" She grinned. "Was she cute?"

Ranma went red. "No no, you're just gonna punt me into orbit again!"

"I'm just kidding!" she giggled. "I wouldn't even be upset if you told me you had a crush on her... after all, I had acted pretty silly around Arthas."

"She was nuthin' but a friend," Ranma proclaimed. "A very good friend. And she could fight, too. She was pretty good for a girl... that is, for a girl of her age," he quickly corrected himself when he saw the deep frown on his fiancee's face.

"Good save, buddy!" Akane smirked playfully. "So she was training to be a warrior?"

"An elven ranger," Ranma nodded. He smiled when he thought back to how he and Sylvanas had strolled through the forest. "And when she was getting older, she became pretty good with the bow... she shot a bird right out of the sky."

"Well, Arthas was training to be a good warrior, in addition to the duties a prince and future king has," Akane said. "He also told me of his plans of becoming a paladin after growing up..."

"What's a paladin?" Ranma wondered.

"A holy warrior that fights for justice and defends the weak," Akane said. "I don't know much more... now that I think about it, I wonder if they are some sort of crusaders or something like that."

"Yeah, we've been pretty innocent as kids, I guess," Ranma smirked. "I've never questioned how or why I appeared in Quel'Thalas every year..."

He was surprised when Akane suddenly leaned against his shoulder.

"I am glad we both have a secret like this, a secret we can share with each other..." she sighed. "It's good to have someone to share this with, you know?"

"Yeah, I agree," Ranma smiled. For a while, they just sat there and looked at the water.

"So... you ready to go home yet?"

"Hmmm... just a little while..." she murmured, snuggling closer to him.

Ranma grinned. That was a nice change for a change.

From a nearby tree, a bandana-clad boy was watching them.

'Damn you, Ranma...' Ryoga thought. 'You just can't keep your hands off Akane.' He then sighed and sat down on a branch. 'Why do I even bother?' he mentally sighed. 'I have Akari, haven't I? And besides, I really don't feel like fighting Ranma today...'

He had other thinks to think about. Since on this day, six years ago, he had met his old friend, the aged Chieftain Cairne of the Bloodhoof clan, for the last time.

Cairne was a Tauren, one of the big, minotaur-like people that were living a life of nomads on the barren plains of Kalimdor. Cairne had been a wise teacher for many years, even though Ryoga had only been able to see him once a year.

'No one knows about him, not even Akari...' Ryoga thought as he leaned back against the tree's trunk. 'Sometimes... I wish there was someone I could share this secret with...'


	4. The Dark Lady

"You did WHAT??" the huge dragon thundered while towering over the smaller one.

"I'm s-sorry, Great Spellweaver..." the smaller dragon said while cowering in front of the enraged aspect. "I tried to defend the artifacts with all my strength... but they were just too numerous. You see, they conjured up demons..."

"You know that there are many warlocks among Blood Elves, don't you?" Malygos roared. "This wouldn't have happened if you had travelled incognito, in human or elf form. Why did you turn back to normal, in the middle of Kalimdor?"

"I th-thought I could reach my destination quicker this way," Cyan tried to defend himself. "I thought the only ones that would see me are Night Elves..."

"All elves have heightened senses compared to the other races," Malygos hissed. "And it is common knowledge that the Blood Elves have joined the Horde. And you still tell me that you are surprised at their presence on Kalimdor, where the greatest Horde capital is situated?"

"F-forgive me... I know that I can't possibly calm your rage... but I have some good news. They may have forced me to drop my cargo, but when I checked the surrounding area after driving them off, I noticed that most of the artifacts I was supposed to bring to your secret hoard are safe."

"Is that so?" Malygos grumbled. "But not all of them?"

"Oh, no need to worry," Cyan grinned nervously. "The only artifact they managed to steal was a worthless, glowing sphere... I never heard you talk about it, so I figured it had to be pretty worthless. They probably found it on top of the other treasure and were dazzled by its sparkliness... you know, I put it on top of the more valuable artifacts on purpose, to trick anyone who would be stupid enough to assault a blue dragon..."

"WHAAAAATT?? Do you have ANY idea what you've done, foolish whelp?"

Cyan winced under the booming voice of the aspect of the blue dragonflight and gulped. This just wasn't his day...

* * *

Back on Kalimdor, the troop of Blood Elf archers and warlocks that had assaulted Cyan while he was flying over the barrens, were hiding in the dark shadows of Dreadmist Peak. They knew they couldn't stay for long, since they preferred not to be seen by either members of the Horde or the Alliance.

Their leader, a powerful warlock with raven-black hair, brushed back the hood of his robe and pulled the stolen artifact out of his pouch, staring at it with glowing eyes.

"Finally..." he whispered. "Prince Kael'thas will be overjoyed... with this powerful artifact, we will be able to break the barriers between the dimension and bring our Lord Kil'jaeden to this world..."

He didn't know that by touching the artifact, he accidentally activated it, reawakening the old spell that it had used many years ago... and once again, a tunnel was opened, connecting the world of Azeroth with a faraway dimension... and a certain district of a big city, called Nerima.

* * *

Tatewaki Kuno, Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, frowned when he saw his sister kneeling on the floor of her room. In front of her, she had a slightly torn photograph within a golden frame. It showed the disgusting image of some monstrous, dark-skinned person in a cage. Kodachi closed her eyes and raised her hands, folding them in front of her chest.

"My dear Illidan-sama... how I long to behold you once again... how many years has it been since we last laid eyes on each other? I know I am betraying my darling Ranma by doing this... but I can't simply choose between you two. Ranma-sama? Illidan-sama? I... I must have them both!"

"Sister, what on Earth are you doing?" Tatewaki asked her.

Kodachi eeped and dove for the picture, hiding it from her brother's view. "T-tatewaki!" she stuttered. She was so bewildered that she was actually using her brother's first name. "Since when... have you been standing there?"

"I just entered," Tatewaki frowned. "What kind of ugly picture was that? And what you just mumbled... don't tell me you have a secret admirer with a decidedly questionable taste..."

"Don't be silly, brother!" Kodachi hissed, letting the photograph vanish inside her pocket. "I would never betray my Ranma-sama!"

"Oh, really?" Kuno Jr. asked and raised an eyebrow. "Just a moment ago, you said you wouldn't mind having two suitors at once..."

"That is none of your business, brother!" Kodachi yelled, standing up and facing him. "Besides, you should not open your mouth as wide as that... what about Akane Tendo and that red-haired harlot? Isn't it you who can't decide on either?"

"Leave the beauteous Akane and my pig-tailed goddess out of this, sister!" Kuno commanded. "Unlike the foul sorcerer Saotome and your other, twisted lover, those two are prime examples of humanity!"

"Unlike you, brother dearest!" she shouted back. "You know, sometimes I wish... I wish I would disappear from the surface of Earth, just so I wouldn't have to listen to your neverending nonsense!"

"You know, I sometimes wish that as well!" Kuno shouted.

Then, Kodachi disappeared in a flash of light.

Kuno blinked. And blinked again. Then, his hands tried to grasp the empty air over the spot where his sister had just stood a second ago.

"What kind of sorcery...?" he muttered. Then he shook his head. "No, demented or not, my sister is still a Kuno, and could never use any sort of black magic."

He tried to come up with another solution. If other people were present in the room, they would have surely heard the wheels in his head grinding.

Finally, he came to a conclusion. "She must be hiding somewhere," he said.

He raised the carpet and looked underneath. "Sister, are you down there?"

Loyal ninja retainer Sasuke sweatdropped when he entered Miss Kodachi's room and saw his Master Kuno crawling around on the floor, looking underneath the carpet. "M-master Kuno... what are you doing?"

"Do not disturb me, Sasuke," Kuno commanded. "I am trying to find my demented sister."

Sasuke sighed. "Master Kuno is acting weird again..."

* * *

Meanwhile, in another world...

Sylvanas Windrunner, the Dark Lady, the Banshee Queen, the leader of the Forsaken, sat on her throne in the Undercity, her fingers playing with the chain of a medallion she was holding in her right hand.

Her personal bodyguards, undead, like most of the inhabitants of the underground city, were flanking her throne and the entrance to her round chambers. They never looked at their queen, even though they could tell that she was deep in thought. It was best not to disturb her when she was like this.

Sylvanas raised the medallion until it was dangling directly in front of her face.

"Sister..." she whispered. "Where are you...?"

She had sworn to never dwell in the past, since it couldn't be changed anyways. She was what she was, and she had to make the best of it. And that was to wait for a chance to make Arthas pay for all he had done to her and her people...

But just a couple of days ago, a messenger had found this medallion in the Ghostlands, close to Windrunner Spire, her old home. And seeing it had made her heart hurt, something she didn't believe to be possible... she was undead, after all.

The memories of Quel'Thalas were joyful and painful at once, and, overwhelmed by the feelings, she had sung an old song she had known since her childhood... the Lament of the Highborne.

She wondered if her sisters, Alleria and Anveena, could still be alive. The chances were slim... but it wasn't impossible.

But then, the memories of her childhood had brought back other memories... images that she had buried under the burdens of her life and undead afterlife... the images of a boy with a pigtail...

'Why is it that I can't stop thinking about him?' Sylvanas thought. 'He was nothing but a little boy... a human, furthermore.'

Remembering Ranma, she couldn't help but wonder what kind of mystery had surrounded him. Even though she knew that elves age much slower that Ranma, he had stayed a child during all these years she had met him.

She closed her hands around the medallion and put it away. "Enough!" she said to herself. "What's in the past is in the past... my sisters are long gone, and this silly human will probably never again appear in my life..."

A sudden flash of light in the middle of her throne room made her blink in surprise... but only for a moment. She then quickly stood up, drew her bow and arrow in one smooth motion and aimed at the intruder who had appeared in front of her, while her guards surrounded him, with drawn weapons.

The human seemed as surprised as she was, but she wouldn't let herself be fooled. Anyone who was able to sneak up on her with a trick like that had to be a powerful mage.

"Where am I?" the young man asked and looked around. "Akane? What is this place?" He then looked at the corpse-like guards and grimaced. "Uh, and who are you guys?"

"Whoever you are, sorcerer, you will pay for invading my domain!" Sylvanas shouted.

Ranma looked past the weird guys in the strange costumes, at the pale-faced woman in the black hood that was aiming the bow at him. "Hey, gimme a break, lady! I didn't invade nuthin', I was just hanging out with Akane when all of a sudden, I found myself here... and please, don't call me a sorcerer, okay? I've got enough nutcases back home who call me that."

"How dare you talk to the Lady Sylvanas like that, meat bag?" one of the undead soldiers hissed.

"What in the name of the Twisting Nether is going on here?" a booming voice shouted, as the towering form of Varimathras, the Dreadlord, entered the chamber.

"An intruder, Lord Varimathras!" one of the guards shouted. "Obviously an assassin to dispose of Lady Sylvanas!"

"Then why are you hesitating? Kill him already! Or wait, I'll do it myself..." The white-faced, horned, winged demon took a few, determined steps towards Ranma.

"You will do nothing until I order you to do so, Varimathras!" Sylvanas commanded. "You might be my right hand, but I am still the queen of the Forsaken!"

The demonic majordomo grimaced, but he bowed his head and stepped back. "Of course, my Queen... but, with all due respect, if this human is indeed an assassin, we shouldn't hesitate to get rid of him..."

"I want to know more about him first, Dreadlord!" Sylvanas snarled. "I want to know why he comes here, unarmed, and yet hesitates to fight either of us."

While the undead elf and the demon had prattled with each other, Ranma couldn't take his eyes off the Banshee Queen.

Her skin was as pale as that of a corpse, her eyes were as red as blood and the stench of death surrounded her... but now that he got a closer look at her, he recognized her. Also, he had clearly heard the bad-smelling soldiers and the bat-winged guy call out her name.

"Sylvanas?" he muttered. "Is that you?"

Sylvanas looked past Varimathras and glared at him. "How dare you call me by my first name, human? I am the Queen of the Forsaken!"

"But... but I always thought... you wanted to be an Elven Ranger..." Ranma stuttered. His mind was still spinning. He had just been sitting close to the channel in Nerima, talking with Akane, when suddenly, an all-too familiar flash had taken him back to the person he thought he'd never see again in his life... and he was shocked to see how much she had changed. Why wasn't she in the beautiful forest of her home? Why was she in the company with these creepy guys? And why was she stinking like a decayed corpse?

"If you ask me, my Lady..." Varimathras whispered, bringing his mouth close to Sylvanas' ear. "This human is not quite right in the head..."

"Let me talk to him," Sylvanas commanded. "Something about him... is strange... almost familiar..."

Varimathras raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything.

"Why do you think you should know anything about me, human?" she finally asked.

Ranma grinned. "Hey, d'ya even have to ask? Remember the days when we tossed leaves at each other? When we climbed trees? Oh, wait, what about when you tried putting a squirrel into my pants?"

If demons were able to facefault, Varimathras would do it several times.

Sylvanas nearly dropped her bow. Slowly, she lowered her arrow and stared at the pig-tailed youth in front of her.

"Ranma...?" she whispered.

"It's me!" Ranma grinned. "Hey, isn't it great? I mean, it's been six years since we saw each other... how long was it for you, though? Ten years? Twenty years?"

"My Lady, what is this boy babbling about?" Varimathras asked her.

The Banshee Queen narrowed her eyes. "Leave us be! All of you! I want to speak with him in private."

The personal guards looked at each other in confusion, and Varimathras frowned. "Is that a wise decision, my lady? If he really is a powerful mage, we probably should restrain him first..."

"I said: Get out! All of you! Now!" Sylvanas hissed.

Her guards knew better than to disobey a direct order like this. They bowed their bony skulls and slowly left the room... although one of them whispered to another: "What was that about Lady Sylvanas putting a squirrel in someone's pants?"

Varimathras threw one last glare at Ranma, then the Dreadlord followed the guards and closed the door behind him.

Sylvanas and Ranma were alone.

"Ranma..." Sylvanas whispered. "I never believed I would see you again one day..."

"Hey, neither did I," Ranma said. "We both were in luck, huh? Oh man, I can't wait to tell Akane all of this... hey, I've got so much to tell you! So many things have happened since we last met..."

"Why have you returned, Ranma?" Sylvanas asked. "And why now?"

"Huh? Hey, it's not like I decided to show up right now. I mean, I never really had the choice, remember? I just showed up, and you never complained before... what's the matter with you, anyway? Why so gloomy? And what's with the dark look? And those guys... you really need to hire a few guys without that sort of Halloween fetish. And..." He sniffed. "You should take a bath, you know?"

"BE QUIET!" she commanded. Tears of fury would have ran down her face... if she still had any tear glands. "What do you know, Ranma?" she whispered. "You are nothing but a ghost of the past... you don't know what horrors I have faced."

"Did... did something happen?" Ranma murmured, taken aback. He could tell that something was wrong. "Something with your sisters?"

"My sisters? You... you have absolutely no idea... you come here, face me like this, as if nothing has happened at all..."

She glared at him. "Yes, something happened to me, and to my sisters! And to the rest of the High Elves! And to all of Quel'Thalas! And to the entire northern part of the Eastern Kingdoms! You ask if something has happened?"

Ranma winced. Sylvanas had spoken louder by the second, and the last question had sounded like a scream, and it was sending chills down his spine. "W-w-well, why don't you tell me what happened?"

Within two seconds, Sylvanas had crossed the distance between them, and now her face was directly in front of Ranma's. "See me, Ranma?" she snarled. "See what they did to me? See what happened to my body? SEE WHAT I HAVE BECOME?"

Ranma didn't know what to say. He could see that something about her had changed. Her skin was a bit too dry and pale, and were those stitches to the right of her long ear? And the red glow of her eyes certainly did not look natural.

Slowly, it began to dawn on him. The bad smell... this stench of decay and death... there was a reason why she smelled like this.

He paled and took several steps back from her. "S-SYLVANAS!" he gasped. "You... you are... DEAD!"

She looked like she was ready to kill him.

"Yes, I am dead..." she whispered. "Undead, to be exact. You want to know what happened, do you? The Scourge happened, Ranma... the Scourge happened..."

"The... the Scourge?" Ranma muttered.

"Yes... the army of the undead... the mindless minions of the Lich King... they invaded my home country of Quel'Thalas, killing hundreds of elves... and at least half of them were raised from the dead, to serve the Lich King even after their death, damned to never find peace... just like me!"

Her fist was shaking. "At first, I was nothing but a banshee... a mindless tool of the Scourge, forced to do whatever they told me. Later, they mocked me by giving me back the decayed remains of my old body..."

"But... but how?" Ranma murmured. He had never heard of something like this before, never heard of such a horror... he had fought enemies that wanted to kill him and his friends before... but never before was he forced to face someone who could slaughter an entire race... and more, turning them into... THIS. This was more than just horrible, this was monstrous!

His hands tightened into fists as well. He couldn't believe that this was his old childhood friend. She looked like a mockery of the old Sylvanas... she was a fallen warrior, a beautiful and wonderful person who had been twisted by events that should never have happened.

Who was responsible for turning one of his best friends into this dark, pained creature?

"Who did it?" he grumbled. "Who did this to you?"

"You want to know who killed me?" Sylvanas asked. "Why would you want to know that?"

"Because I'm going to kick his ass as soon as I find him!" Ranma shouted angrily.

Sylvanas huffed. "You? You couldn't face the man who did this in a billion years!"

"Who did it?" Ranma demanded to know.

"Arthas!" Sylvanas spat. Never was she able to feel such hatred as when she spoke that name. "Arthas the Death Knight, the fallen paladin, the traitor prince of Lordaeron... and the new Lich King of the Scourge!"

Ranma's jaw dropped. "Y-you gotta be kidding..." he stuttered. "Please tell me you're kidding..."

"Kidding? KIDDING? LOOK AT ME, RANMA! I AM THE QUEEN OF THE UNDEAD! Do you really believe I would be KIDDING about this?"

'No...' Ranma thought. 'When Akane finds out about this... her heart will be broken... she told me so much about her own childhood friend...'

Then he gasped. "Akane!"

Sylvanas blinked. "Who... is Akane?"

"My fiancee..." Ranma murmured. "She... she just told me that she had a friend on Azeroth as well... and that she came here whenever I visited you... and... if I'm now back in Azeroth, that means, she must be with him as well..."

Sylvanas snorted. She wasn't interested at all in Ranma's life story. "And what's so bad about that?" she still asked.

"This guy..." Ranma muttered. "The boy she had seen in her childhood... it was the same guy! Arthas!"

* * *

Akane shivered. The freezing cold of death stabbed her body like thousands of knives. Never before had she felt such a cold like right now.

But it wasn't just the snow and ice that surrounded her. It wasn't just the blizzard she was in, and the frozen lake she was standing upon.

It was the view in front of her. The horrifying ghouls, the mummified insect bodies of the crypt fiends, and the swollen, grotesque bodies of the Abominations, which consisted of several corpses that were sewn together. And above them, in the air, the monstrous skeleton of an undead dragon, who was circling above this army of the undead.

And she was right in the middle of them all, mortal fear written in her face, as well as confusion... and betrayal.

Her eyes were on the tall figure that stood in front of her, the armored ruler of these monsters, a sinister-looking helmet on his head and a glowing runeblade in his hand.

But she still recognized him.

Arthas, the new Lich King, sneered down at his childhood friend.

"Hello, Akane!"


	5. Icecrown Citadel

Akane sat in one corner of her cell, shivering. She never felt this cold or helpless before in her life. The undead monstrosities that were under Arthas' command had dragged her away before she could even talk to him, throwing her on the back of one of these insect monsters, which carried her bound body away. The foul stench of the walking corpses all around her had made her gag, and in the end, it was so worse that she fell unconscious.

When she awoke, she was within an empty, bleak cell with walls made of black stone, and icicles that were hanging from the metal bars of her cell. Outside, she could hear the hissing and growling of the monsters, but no one had come to talk to her.

In the end, she was glad for that. Nothing in her life, not even the Orochi, had scared her like this. And for once, her stubbornness and determination to prove herself as a strong martial artist didn't show themselves.

A few rags had been thrown into her cell, and she was wrapping them around her cold body as good as she could, although it didn't help much against the stinging cold. The food that had been placed into her cell in a wooden bowl, however, she didn't touch. It was a disgusting, green glop of something she could not quite identify. It smelt horrible, even worse than her own cooking.

She didn't know for how long they were letting her wait in here, and the longer she waited, the more hungry she got. Still, her disgust was stronger than that, so she decided to let her stomach rumble for now.

There also wasn't any window around, and no clock, so she couldn't tell how much time had passed, or if it was already night or not. She was a bit tired, but it was so cold that she couldn't fall asleep.

Finally, after what seemed like hours to her, she heard heavy footsteps that were approaching her cell.

She was startled when she recognized Arthas' face. He didn't wear his spooky helmet anymore, but his appearance was still frightening. Akane shuddered. How could the handsome, noble young man she had met during her childhood have turned into THIS?

"It... has been a long time, Akane," Arthas said calmly. "But I recognized you the first moment I saw you."

Akane didn't know what to say. She didn't know what he would do to her, but she was afraid, so she scooted backwards until she hit the back wall of her prison.

Arthas smirked. "You must be horrified by what I have become, isn't that so? The noble prince of Lordaeron, the aspiring paladin, having turned into a Death Knight... even more, into the Lich King, the most powerful being alive on Azeroth..."

"A-alive...?" Akane stammered. "Y-you and I are the only living people around here, aren't we? What are those monsters, Arthas? What... what have you done to them?"

"They are my servants," Arthas explained while he slowly walked up and down in front of the cell. "It is much easier to control the dead than the living, didn't you know? I agree that they don't exactly smell like violets... but who cares about such useless plants, anyway?"

He reached into his belt pouch and pulled something out. It was a bright, pink flower petal. Akane didn't think something beautiful as this would exist in this dark place, and she was surprised that it still looked like it was freshly picked.

"Fragile, little things..." Arthas murmured while rubbing the petal between his gloved fingers. "So colorful... and yet so useless. In the end, death will be the end of all living beings."

A dark aura suddenly surrounded his hand, and Akane could watch how the darkness seeped into the pink petal. Within seconds, it turned brown, dried up and fell apart in a small cloud of dust. Arthas clenched his fist.

"Humans are like those little plants, Akane... they all will die in the end. I just help them to reach this goal more quickly."

"No one wants to die," Akane said in a trembling voice.

"Only because they don't realize that they don't have any other choice," Arthas smiled. "I'm actually doing them a favor, you know? Thanks to me, their bodies will still be useful after their death... useful to me! They will help me reach my rightful goal: To become king!"

"But weren't you the prince of Lordaeron, Arthas?" Akane shouted. THis time, she actually stood up from the ground. "What happened to you? You already had everything! You were a paladin, and a PRINCE! You would have become king of your people... so why did you turn into... into this?"

"Many things happened since you last came for a visit, Akane..." Arthas said. "The Scourge filled my heart with bitterness... with lust for revenge!" A wicked grimace appeared on Arthas' face. "Instead of listening to 'reason' and following the 'light', I gave in to my feelings, I let myself be engulfed by the hatred... and I became more and more powerful! I killed all that stood in my way: My father, that fool Uther, the stubborn High Elves... even Illidan wasn't able to stop me... and now... I AM THE KING!"

Akane realized that this wasn't the boy she knew anymore. "You're not a king," she muttered. She was disgusted. "You are a monster, worse than those creatures you are controlling. I can't believe I EVER called you my friend!"

She glared at him, then she turned around to face the wall. "I don't want to have anything to do with you ever again!"

Arthas walked closer to the iron bars. "Oh... I don't think you have a choice there, Akane," he smiled. "You are already in my grasp... it's just a matter of what I'm going to do with you. You know, I'm not doing this with everyone... were you just a common woman that had gotten herself lost in the snow, I would have simply ordered my troops to kill you and turn you into an undead soldier. But I am generous... because of our special past, I am giving you an offer."

"Whatever you are offering me, I don't want it!" Akane spat.

"Are you sure?" Arthas smiled. "Just wait until you hear my proposal... I am offering you to become one of my personal elite warriors, a Death Knight of the highest rank! You will stay alive, and you will have powers that are rivalled by only me and my most entrusted advisors. I know you have been training to be a strong warrior yourself... but that is nothing if compared with the power I'm offering you! Imagine... you can raise the dead with a single gesture of your finger, and on your command, they will do whatever you tell them. Your enemies will fall under your blade, and nothing will ever stand in your way... and everything you to will be in my service! Together, we can conquer this world, Akane!"

For a moment, Akane tried to imagine herself in a dark armor that looked similar to the one Arthas was wearing, with a spooky, pale face and a glowing sword in her hand. She shook her head. "No! I will never become like you!"

"I advise you to think it through, Akane!" Arthas said. "Since otherwise... I will be forced to turn you into a mindless ghoul! Or maybe I can use your body parts as raw material for creating an Abomination... either way, you will serve my army! And I would definitely prefer welcoming a new powerful general in my ranks than just another common foot soldier... cannon fodder..."

He turned around. "I will give you time to think it through... until tomorrow. Remember, Akane, you are at my mercy... you won't be able to escape this place."

And then, the Lich King left Akane alone in the darkness. The short-haired girl collapsed on the floor again, fighting against her tears.

"Ranma... where are you?" she sobbed.


	6. Amazon The Run

Author's Note:

The first four parts of this chapter have been written by fellow author Atropos. It is possible that we will continue to write this story in collaboration with each other.

* * *

"Warchief?" asked the Kor'kron Elite guard, nodding toward Chieftain Drek'Thar dozing against the wall of Grommash Hold. "Should we wake him?"

"That won't be necessary," responded Thrall, half-smiling over at Vol'Jin. "The journey from Garadar has taken a lot out of my old friend. I see no harm in letting him rest."

"Yeah, woman," said Shadow Hunter Vol'Jin with more than a touch of irony. "Let da old man have his nap. We not doin' anyt'ing important wit'out him." He yawned and stretched, his troll form towering over everyone else in the room for the few moments he was actually standing straight up. "Jus' anotha lazy day in da Horde, right? Nothin' ta do..."

It was at that point that a purple-haired human female appeared in the center of the chamber, holding a paper carton up to her lips. For a moment, everyone froze. Her eyes went wide as she scanned the guards around her and their very large, very dangerous-looking axes, and the room as so quiet she thought she could hear her pupils dilate. Her fingers slackened ever so slightly and the milk carton fell to the floor, spilling white liquid onto the dirt floor.

"Human!" shouted the guard. "Assassin! DEFEND THE WARCHIEF!" There was a sound of metal sliding against leather as their axes were brought to the ready, and a sound of bare feet against dirt as the purple-haired girl sprinted for the doorway.

"Huh? Mm? What? What's going on?" asked the elder shaman, roused to wakefulness by the shouting about two seconds too late.

* * *

Shampoo ran. She ran like Hell.

Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap oh CRAP. It had to be now, didn't it? It had to be today. She had just about resigned herself to the fact that she wasn't going to have another trip to the faraway land of Azeroth, that she would never sit next to Drek'Thar by a campfire and listen to him relay the voice of the elements, that she'd never describe what a sunset looked like to him again. And then she was taken back! Only she wasn't alone with her mentor this time, she was with a bunch of armed, angry green-skinned Orcs, the ones that he cautioned her did not like humans. And she was yanked from her reality right as she was drinking milk out of the carton, like Cologne had told her not to do a thousand times.

And now she was running through a weird, alien city of creatures that hated humans, a bunch of warriors on her tail, with no idea how to get out and no idea when she'd snap back to Earth. There was a massive suit of armor and equally huge, inhuman skull hanging on a tree, some trophy of what the orcs had killed; it looked like it came from something a hell of a lot harder to kill than her. She spotted a ramp on the wall of a canyon that several buildings had been built into and sprang up it; wherever you are, having the high ground is a good idea. Maybe she could find an unoccupied residence, or at least someone alone she could get the drop on.

Yeah. Today was gonna be a greeeeeat day.

* * *

"People of the Horde!" shouted Warcaller Gorlach to the crowd milling about between the auction house and the bank. "Be alert! We have recieved reports that a human has infiltrated the city of Orgrimmar and is currently at large!"

A scrawny undead woman in priest's robes raised her bony arm. "I'm a human!" she added cheerily.

The massive Orc warrior standing next to her rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "No, Susannah. You're an undead human. They're different. We've been through this."

"Oh." She raised her hand again. "Never mind!"

"Riiiiight..." Gorlach blinked. "The human is believed to be an assassin sent to slay our Warchief and must not be allowed to remain and regroup! She has long, purple hair covering her ears, ornamented with two metal spheres, and may attempt to disguise herself as a Blood Elf. She was last seen running toward the Drag, wearing a silken red shirt and leggings, and any warrior who captures her will be handsomely rewarded!"

"It's a shame," said the undead priestess as she walked away, "why would humans want to assassinate the Warchief? Don't they know we're allies?"

The warrior beside her slapped his forehead and groaned.

* * *

Shampoo ducked into the second floor of an empty wooden hutch and caught her breath and collected her thoughts. She was brave, but she wasn't an idiot; she had no choice but to run from those warriors. But she also had to have been running from Drek'thar as well; she'd appeared next to him every other time.

And every other time it'd had been one year apart, not three. Maybe the rules were different. Or maybe Drek'thar was standing right behind her, but she doubted she had time for him to explain before she was hacked to pieces. None of that mattered. She needed to keep her head and keep herself alive. If she could find Drek'thar and he could vouch for her, great. First concern, don't get cut in half. If she had a bucket of water, she could quietly slink out as a cat...

She heard footsteps and, realizing there was nothing in the hut to hide behind, pressed herself against the wall hoping not to be seen -- but readying her bonbori in case she was.

The footsteps came closer, closer, and Shampoo's entire body tensed. The footfalls came to the doorway and stopped, Shampoo held her breath... and then dived forward to the floor, narrowly avoiding the swing of a serrated axe that cleaves through the doorway and would have taken off her head.

Shampoo rolled to her feet in the center of the room, adopting a combat stance. A powerfully-built Orcish woman wearing armor adorned in wolf's pelts and bearing the axe that had nearly decapitated the displaced Chinese girl. Three long purple hairs slowly drifted to the floor.

"Cowardly assassin," sneered Frostwolf Ambassador Rokhstrom. "You should have known you could not hide from the might of the Horde, not within our own capital." She readied her weapon for another swing.

"Aiyah!" Shampoo protested. "Shampoo not assassin! Shampoo not know why came here either -- let Shampoo talk to shaman Drek'thar, knows Shampoo mean no hurt!"

"Sent to slay Drek'thar, is it? Either way, you won't get another chance." The Orc smiled menacingly. "Either you will submit to the justice of the Horde, or you will resist too hard, and you will die here." She chuckled. "And your Orcish is terrible."

Orcish? Shampoo had been speaking Japanese... though it was pretty weird that Orcs from some other world would be speaking it too, but Shampoo had no time to ponder it. The Orc lunged forward with another horizontal slice, and now Shampoo was purely fighting, on a complete adrenaline rush. She backflipped out of the way of the attack and as Rokhstrom recovered from her swing, Shampoo closed in and rained blows upon her with her twin bonbori -- not hoping to really harm her, but just stun her long enough to get away. With a growl, Rokhstrom pushed the girl away with her free hand to get some room between them. Then, she spoke a word in a language that wasn't Japanese or Orcish -- it was what Drek'thar called Kalimag, language of the elements. And around her, she could hear the elements wakening, responding to her call!

Shampoo felt a horrid chill wrack her body, piercing to her very bones, as the spirits of ice struck at her at Rokhstrom's command. She could see the skin under her fingernails turn blue. The shaman smiled and began a longer invocation, this one to the spirits of the storms. The air charged around her, the room smelled of ozone. Shampoo's ice-chilled arms could barely lift her heavy maces, but she had to stop the shaman's spell before she was electrocuted... so she winced her eyes shut and kicked Rokhstrom in the stomach, knocking the breath out of her.

"You're more skilled than I thought..." gasped the shaman, right before Shampoo used the opportunity to knock her over.

* * *

"What... what happened?" Drek'thar grunted as he pulled himself together. Dang, he was really getting old when he fell asleep in the middle of a meeting with the warchief... and all of a sudden, chaos had broken out all around him, with the guards shouting something about a human assassin. "Thrall, mind explaining to me what happened while I was... uuhhh... meditating?"

Giving his old mentor a short smirk, Thrall explained: "A human appeared out of thin air, right in front of us, old friend. I don't really know how she managed to sneak past the guards, but if she's a rogue, she's the most skilled one I've ever seen."

"Hmmmm, strange dat..." Vol'jin muttered while stroking his elongated chin. "Dat woman didn't look like an assassin to me, gurl seemed rather surprised to be caught in da middle of a drink, you get me, mon?"

"Wait a minute..." Drek'thar muttered. "Human girl... appearing out of nowhere..." Suddenly, he had the feeling as if he knew that human they were talking about. "Quick, tell me, what did she look like?"

"Well," Thrall said. "She was slender, not too tall... and the most outstanding part was that she had purple hair, like a Night Elf. Maybe it was dyed..."

"PURPLE HAIR?" the elder shaman gasped. "Thrall, quick, call off your guards... that girl is not an assassin, neither is she an enemy... I know her!"

Vol'jin scratched his head. "You nevah told us you'd know a human..."

"Yes, I do, that must be Shampoo!" He turned to where he heard the rattling of the guards' armor and shouted: "Call the other Grunts, tell them that the human is not an enemy, do you hear me?"

"You heard him, men!" Thrall added. "Make sure she stays unharmed and if possible, bring her to me, safely, so I can apologize."

The Grunts nodded and ran out of the room, leaving Drek'thar, Vol'jin and a bewildered Thrall.

The warchief looked at the shaman and raised his eyebrows. "Shampoo?"

"Yes, I know, a rather peculiar name," Drek'thar sighed. "And the sweetest human girl I ever met, still very proud for her age."

"But how did she manage to appear in the middle of Grommash Hold like that?" Thrall wondered. "If it's a friendly visit she wanted, she could have entered through the main gate... I've told my guards again and again that not all humans are our enemies."

Drek'thar sighed. "Yes, about that... you should know that she always had an unusual way of appearing right next to me... and neither she nor I really know how or why she keeps appearing next to me like that... but it was so many years ago since she last came for a visit... I wonder what the reason for that might be..."

* * *

Shampoo allowed a small smirk to appear on her face when she saw the muscled body of Ambassador Rokhstrom went down under her powerful blow. But she knew she had no time to find out if the Orc was truly unconscious or not, so she left. Knowing that she wasn't safe in this building anymore, she climbed to the topmost floor and saw a flicker of hope when her eyes fell on the balcony. From there, she could easily escape by roofhopping...

But the first thing she saw after running outside was an arrow that barely missed her head and got stuck in the wall next to her.

Down on the street, Troll hunter Trekhan growled to himself. "Drats! Missed her... go and get her, my pretty bird!"

And with a shrill squawk, his carrion bird pet flew up to the balcony, where the apparent assassin had appeared.

Shampoo gasped when the huge bird suddenly attacked her, and she tried defending herself against its sharp beak with her bonbori.

Downstairs, Trekhan smiled as he out another arrow on his bow. "That's right, my dear, keep her busy, so I can take aim..."

"STOP! Call back your pet, hunter!" one of the Orgrimmar Grunts shouted as a small battalion of guards appeared next to him.

Trekhan frowned. "Aw, but I almost have the humie finished... lemme take one shot at her, pleeaaaasse?"

"Put down your bow and call back the bird! On direct order of Warchief Thrall, he wants to see the girl in his fortress... alive!"

Trekhan grumbled something unintelligible and put his finger in his mouth. A sharp whistle later, and his carrion bird left its prey alone and came flying back to its master.

Shampoo was certainly surprised when the bird stopped attacking her, but she wasn't going to complain. Now she could escape...

"Wait!" a voice behind her shouted. "Shampoo, don't go!"

On edge, Shampoo twirled around, bonbori ready to strike. She saw another Orc standing behind her. He was big and muscular, even for an Orc, and he was wearing impressive, black armor. Hadn't she seen him in the room she appeared in?

"You let Shampoo go!" she demanded. "She no is assassin!"

"Yes, I know that... that is, now I know." The Orc raised his hands in a reassuring gesture. "Listen to me, I've talked to your friend... your friend, Drek'thar."

Shampoo blinked. "You know Drek'thar?"

The Orc smiled. "Of course I do, he is my trusted friend and mentor. I must apologize that my guards attacked you like that, but we all believed you to be a..."

"An assassin, Shampoo know..." she sighed. "So, you say you is friend of Drek'thar, too? Why Shampoo should believe you? Elder shaman told Shampoo that many Orcs want to kill humans. And stupid wolf mask woman tried smashing Shampoo's skull with axe."

The warchief smirked. "Well, yes, Ambassador Rokhstrom tends to be a bit... impulsive. I don't blame you for knocking her out like this... you must be a strong warrior if you are able to best her in combat, though."

Shampoo felt flattered by his words, since she knew from Drek'thar that an Orc warrior's praise is something not everyone would hear. Still, she was on guard. "Well, Shampoo is trained Amazon... What your name?"

"Oh, sorry, I should have introduced myself first," the Orc grinned. He put his fist to his chest, saluting the Amazon. "I am Warchief Thrall... on behalf of the Horde, I welcome you in Orgrimmar and apologize for the misunderstanding!"

Shampoo finally lowered her weapons. After all, he knew her name... and how would he know it, if not from Drek'thar?

"Shampoo honored, warchief!"

* * *

Tyrande Whisperwind moaned and turned around in her sleep. "Furion..." she mumbled to herself. "Emerald Dream... no, no, don't go..."

She flailed around a bit until she awoke with a gasp and sat up in bed.

She sighed. She was still in her personal chambers in Darnassus.

But still, the dream she just had was so... lifelike. Had her soul really touched the Emerald Dream while she was sleeping?

She knew she had seen her beloved Malfurion in her dreams, although it was just a faint, spiritual form, not his actual body... and he had talked to her. These words, even if she had heard them in a dream, were the first words she had heard of him in the past few months.

The High Priestess of Elune lifted her legs out of bed and rubbed her temples. "Why do you have to torment me like this, love?" she sighed. "Why can't you just return to me, in body and spirit?"

She then recalled something... something Malfurion had told her while she was asleep. He had told her that something important was about to happen, something that would affect all of Azeroth... and it would begin with the arrival of a certain girl in Darnassus... a human girl.

Tyrande knew that Malfurion's prophecies always had held some truth... but after all, she couldn't be sure if he had really contacted her, or if he had just been a figment of her imagination.

She closed her eyes and tried to remember his exact words...

"Remember this, my love!" the Arch Druid's words echoed in her mind. "During the time I was asleep in the Emerald Dream, before the Burning Legion returned, I wasn't quite alone... my spiritual being was visited several times by a visitor from another world. But it wasn't a demon, voidwalker or spiritual entity... it was a small, human girl, confused at the sight of the Emerald Dream, and scared.

I talked to her, calmed her down and asked her for her name. After realizing that I and the Dream itself meant no harm to her, she relaxed.

This girl visited me several times in my dreams, and I must say, my long sleep had become much less boring whenever she showed up." Malfurion's spiritual voice chuckled. "However, I haven't seen her for many, many years, and after you awoke me to repel the invasion of the undead and the demons, I nearly forgot about her, to my shame.

But recently I received the vision that she will return... and this time, I made sure that she won't appear in the Emerald Dream, since it isn't safe here anymore. She will come to Darnassus, and it will be the beginning of a chain of events that will change Azeroth forever.

Please, my love, welcome her in my place, and tell her that I haven't forgotten her... make her feel welcome, for little Ukyo has been like a daughter to me... do me this favor, love!" He smiled in her mind. "I shall await the day when we will reunited again... I love you forever, Tyrande..."

And then she had woken up.

She seriously did not know what she was supposed to think of this strange dream. Malfurion had never told her about being visited in the Emerald Dream... and they never had any secrets from each other.

Well, the humans were their allies, so she had no problem with welcoming a human girl... but how was she supposed to know how she looked like?

Again, she sighed. "I probably won't find any sleep after this..." she muttered to herself and stood up. She slowly walked to the window and looked outside, at the moon.

"Elune..." she whispered. "Guide me... and help me make the right decision..."

"Um, excuse me?" a voice suddenly spoke up behind her.

Taken by surprise, Tyrande spun around... and gasped when she saw the human standing in the door to her room.

The bandana-clad boy with the huge backpack and the umbrella scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry 'bout this... but can you show me the way to Mulgore? I'm kinda lost..."


	7. Black Rose in the Black Temple

The Priestess of the Moon seldom thought in terms of gears and machines locking up, so she had no analogy for what her brain was doing when she saw the young human in her bedchamber. She was momentarily frozen, struck dumb, not only unable to think of how to react, but how she would even go about deciding how to react. WHY in Elune's name was a strange boy standing in HER bedroom, looking at her in her nightclothes?

"...Mulgore?" asked the boy again, looking as if he might be talking to a simpleton. "Green, rolling hills, Cairne Bloodhoof lives there?" He leaned forward, looking in closer, and squinted. "Hey, are you..." Then, his hands darted to his nose, half a second too late to staunch the veritable river of blood that came pouring out of it.

Tyrande's eyes darted downward, only now realizing how thin her mooncloth nightgown was, and her face flushed deep violet with embarrassment and anger. "What is the meaning of this intrusion?" she shouted as she covered herself with one arm. "What are you doing here? HOW did you get in here?"

At this point Ryoga could have explained he had gotten lost and he wasn't quite sure how he wound up in here either and he was very sorry for the intrusion but he didn't know this was a private room... but that would require him to be thinking rationally after accidentally seeing a pair of purple nipples, and experiencing the associated severe drop in blood pressure. Instead, he just screamed, turned around, and ran away. The Sentinel guards outside just heard a scream, then turned around to see an unfamilar human running from the direction of Tyrande Whisperwind's bedroom with blood coating his hands. With only one obvious conclusion to draw, they sounded the alarm, and pursued Ryoga into the dense Darnassian forest.

* * *

"Ohhhhhh, yes... thaaaaaat's the spot..." Prince Kael'Thas Sunstrider moaned in relief as the leather-clad succubus massaged him, grinding her elbow into his right shoulder. "Ohhhhh, Xia... I swear, the stress is just melting away..."

Xia, Mistress of Suffering, scowled. Prince Kael couldn't see it, of course, and she used her normal sultry and submissive voice to tell him "I'm happy to serve you, Master" -- she couldn't disrespect the prince of the Blood Elves by showing her disgust, or by turning down his requests, or by flat-out telling him what a creepy jerk he was and that's coming from a depraved demoness who intertwines pain and pleasure. No, the Illidari demoness had to smile and play along with the blood mage. But if she ever found out who told Kael she knew massage therapy, she was going to feed him into the gears of a Fel Reaver, feet-first and slo-o-owly.

"Mmmmm... oh, Xia, you're a miracle worker. It's a shame lord Illidan won't let me take you back to Tempest Keep." It's a shame that she bribed Mother Shahraz to tell Illidan she couldn't possibly spare her, Xia thought, but she just let Kael keep talking. "It's become so difficult in the Netherstorm lately, between the Scryers and Consortium, I'd work so much better if I could be this relaxed..."

His words were met by the unmistakable tone of Illidan Stormrage, and both Kael and Xia turned around in surprise. Illidan may have been a muscular eight-foot demonic Night Elf with horns and wings who left burning footprints, but he could be damn quiet when he wanted to be. "Prince Kael. You told me you had the operations in Netherstorm under control. Were you lying?"

"L-Lord Illidan!" Kael said with a start, and flipped himself over to face his master, covering himself with a towel. For just one moment, Xia actually prayed to the Naaru, hoping they'd be so surprised they would grant her request and have Illidan strike Kael dead. "Not at all! Our operations in Netherstorm continue excellently. Four Manaforges are operating at full capacity and we are well on our way to reclaiming the sattelites of Tempest Keep." He tapped his fingertips together. "Having the attentions of Xia would merely make things easier on myself, personally. A vanity request, nothing more."

Illidan looked away, lost in thought; though considering the fact that he was blind and used some kind of demonic sixth sense, the direction he looked didn't really matter. Kael wasn't worried about Illidan's anger, he was certain that any half-plausible answer would mollify him long enough for him to get distracted and start brooding about something else. What Illidan didn't know about his own operation would fill Deadwind Pass, Kael was the real power here. He wondered if the look on the demon hunter's face when he realized Kael had taken control and sold them out to the Burning Legion would be less satisfying when he didn't have any eyes, but he figured, it'd still be worth it.

And sure enough, Illidan let the subject drop. After a few seconds of contemplation, he 'looked' up and said, "Kodachi is coming. Prepare for her arrival."

"Lord?" asked Kael. "I'm sorry, I don't know who--"

"--ACK!" came a new voice, a young human woman. Without a flash or sparkle, without a snap or sizzle, a black-haired, black-clad human girl blinked into existence hanging about four feet above the ground in the chamber. She looked surprised and disoriented, but as gravity kicked in and she fell, she managed to land on her fingertips, push off and roll into a backflip to end on her feet with her arms raised high, looking satisfied. "What just -- Illidan-sama!" She ran forward and leapt at him, hugging him across his massive, muscular chest... and the demonhunter returned the gesture, gently cradling her in his arms.

Xia looked down at Kael, but his expression told her that, nope, he didn't know either.

"Illidan-sama! It's been so long, I thought I'd never see you again!" The girl looked overjoyed, but there was something in her expression that was off, something that Kael thought looked a bit... unhinged. "What happened to you? I see you're no longer imprisoned, but... who are they, and what happened to your head?"

"Kodachi..." he said, "I had begun to think you were nothing more than a figment of my imagination, a voice conjured by my own mind to break my maddening solitude..." He 'looked' toward Kael, as if answering the question he was about to ask. "Kodachi Kuno was one of the only voices I could hear in my millenia of imprisonment. Without her, I don't doubt I would have gone mad in that rank pit. Kodachi is my..." His lips began to form the word 'friend', but he cut himself off. "...my ally. I don't know, or care, how she's returned, only that she is here."

"Of course, Lord Illidan. You've just, never mentioned her..."

"Were I to tell you of every thing I experienced in Maiev's cage, Sunstrider, it would drive you to madness." And with that, he clearly considered the subject closed. "Kodachi... so much has happened since we last spoke..."

She put her hand on his chest reassuringly. "Tell me everything..."

The demon hunter and the girl in black walked away, leaving the succubus and the blood mage there to look dumbfounded.

"Huh..." said Xia.

"Yeah..." added Kael'Thas. He put one hand on his knee and drummed his fingers. "So, are we going to finish up here?"

Xia shuddered involuntarily.

* * *

Illidan returned to his private sanctum to recount the tale of his escape and ascencion to rulership, Kodachi fawning over him and hanging on every word. He didn't tell her the truth, but he didn't lie, either -- he truly did believe that the Night Elves were fools for denying the power of fel energy; that Tyrande was truly in love with him but trapped by her obligations as a Priestess and her relationship to his aloof, controlling brother Malfurion; that he was the only hope to save Outland from the Burning Legion; that the naaru were insidious manipulative masterminds who had all the peoples of Azeroth dancing on their puppet strings; and that he really did defeat Arthas Menethil in their battle over the Frozen Throne.

Kodachi didn't question a word of it. For one, she would never dream of calling Illidan-sama a liar. And for another, it all made perfect sense to her. She knew how people saw transcendent genius as madness and conspired together to destroy it with lies and sabotage -- it was the story of her life.

"...and now," Illidan said, finishing up his story, "the Legion's forces have pushed us back to Shadowmoon, the Netherstorm, and the Coilfang Reservoir, influencing all the areas in between. A'Dal plots something in Shattrath, something dire for us and the races of Azeroth. And Kil'jaeden may yet return any day to claim what he thinks I will return." He sighed and slumped over in his chair. "My freedom, in the end, has brought me little solace."

She held him from the side, rubbed his massive, muscled purple shoulder. "Don't worry such, Illidan-sama. On my world, great men like you are also reviled and resisted... but always triumph, in the end."

"...It is good to meet you again, Kodachi. Odd, that someone who I have seen so seldomly, who has so little in common with me, seems to be the person with which I can be the most open. This visit has done well for my spirit... thank you."

"Ohhohoho!" she chortled. "I do not wish to merely mend your spirit, Illidan-sama!" She flipped backwards, now standing in front of his throne as if properly addressing him. "If I was away for a longer time, I expect I shall be here for longer. And in that time I shall do all in my power to aid your efforts!" She produced a black ribbon from nowhere and twirled it over her head as she spun on one heel. "Kodachi Kuno, the Black Rose of Furinkan, is at your service!" She stopped with a flourish, then bowed deeply.

Illidan laughed. First with surprise, then, with menace. Kodachi joined him, and their dark mirth echoed throughout the halls.

"Well met... my Black Rose."

* * *

"Follow me, companions!" the human paladin shouted as he let his trusty war hammer descend on the skulls of the serpentine guardians of Coilfang Reservoir. "The Light is with us! Together, we shall rid this part of the world from the evil Naga!"

With battlecries, the other 24 members of the Alliance group that had accompanied the paladin stormed through the pumping station of the Naga. The Naga Sirens and Myrmidons standing in their way tried with all their might to stop them, but they were being smashed by warriors, scorched by mages, impaled by rogues, shot by hunters and mauled by transformed druids.

"This way!" the paladin yelled and raised his weapon. "This time, the ruthless reptiles will see no mercy! Come, their vile leader is this way! We shall slay her and nevermore shall their presence plague Outland!"

Together, the raid group stormed into the innermost chamber of the Serpentshrine Cavern with drawn weapons and spells ready, intent on eradicating the evil Naga that was awaiting them, the henchwoman of Illidan Stormrage.

But, just a short moment later, the group became very quiet when the humans, dwarves and elves looked around the room in confusion.

It was completely empty... except for one little creature that was standing in front of them.

"What... what is the meaning of this?" a mage mumbled. "Where is the Naga leader? And what kind of creature is that?"

"It... it almost looks like a mushroom..." a female elven druid murmured.

The small Sporeling smirked at the raid party.

"I'm terribly sorry... but our Lady is in another castle!"

* * *

Lady Vashj chuckled to herself when she imagined the looks on the faces of the Alliance fools that had dared to invade the Coilfang Reservoir. By the time they reached her chambers, she would already be on her way to her Lord Illidan.

The six-armed Naga sea witch and her entourage were on their way to the Black Temple... to inform their lord that their preparations in the reservoir were complete.

"Lady Vashj," one of her myrmidon guards hissed as he slithered up to her. "Was it wise to leave the reservoir to the surface dwellers?"

"They won't find anything of interest in there," Vashj smiled. "They won't get control of the pumps without this." And she reached up with one of her six hands to touch the gleaming, bright blue crystal that was dangling from her neck. "And if they try to destroy them... well, that will trigger my trap."

"What kind of trap, mylady?" a siren smiled. "Something devious, I'm sure?"

"Oh, nothing too fancy," Vashj laughed. "It will just trigger a mechanism that will open the flood gates... and since the poor surface dwellers never learned to breathe under water..."

The sea witch's laughter was joined by that of her personal guardians as they continued to slither through the Zangarmarsh swamp, on their way to Shadowmoon Valley and the Black Temple, where their Lord Illidan was waiting for them.

They didn't expect any problems on their way, since the only group of Alliance adventurers had been lured into the Coilfang Reservoir, and there was no alarming Horde presence in the marsh at the moment.

Therefore, it was an even bigger surprise to Vashj when, all of a sudden, a tiny man with wrinkled skin appeared in front of her and her guards. For a moment, she believed him to be a gnome.

The gnomish man grinned as his eyes sparkled. "Pretty lady..."

"How foolish of you to get in our way, Alliance scum!" a myrmidon hissed as he raised his trident.

"You ever felt a lightning bolt hit you where the sun don't shine?" a female Naga cackled as she charged an electric spell in her hands.

But Happosai wasn't worried by the hostile snakemen. His gaze wandered up and down the bodies of Vashj and her sirens.

"Well, a bit too scaly for my tastes, but not too shabby... at least you look much better than those two-headed ogres I met..."

Vashj blinked in surprise.

"My lady, that... was that just an insult... or a compliment?" the siren next to her whispered.

"Step out of our way, gnome!" Vashj hissed. "You're not worth our time!"

Happosai didn't reply. Instead, his eyes wandered down the sea witch's body. "Dangit, no panties?" he whined as he saw her lower snake torso. "Oh well... but maybe I can take your bra. Would you horribly mind?"

That was the final straw. "KILL THE PERVERTED GNOME!" Vashj yelled as she raised her bow. The other female Naga didn't really need an invitation to strike, they channeled all their feminine pride and outrage into their magic and fired their spells at the diminutive form of the perverted master of Anything Goes.

Happosai giggled as he skipped, jumped and bounced to evade the arrows and spells of the Naga. "Missed me! Too bad! Oops, was that supposed to hit?"

The male myrmidons felt a bit left out. "Um, excuse me, my lady..." their captain said in an uncertain voice. "Are we supposed to do something?"

"STOP ASKING STUPID QUESTION AND KILL THE OLD FREAK!" Vashj yelled.

And then, she felt something zip past her... and suddenly, it felt a bit drafty around her upper body.

While blood came spurting out of the male Naga's nostrils, the sirens cried out in horror: "Lady Vashj, cover yourself!"

The sea serpent quickly covered her breasts with two of her six arms. Never before had she been this humiliated before. "G-get him, you fools!" she squeaked.

Happosai, however, was already on the retreat. While he was fleeing, he only stopped here and there to fondle a siren's body. He then jumped up on a big boulder and took a deep sniff from the yellow bikini top he was holding.

"Hmmm... a bit fishy, but not too bad!" he cackled... and jumped in the air just when a well-aimed blast of lightning hit the boulder he was sitting on. Laughing to himself, Happosai kept running, until he had managed to shake off the pursuing snake creatures.

"Well, that was funny," he said to himself. "Too bad I haven't run into human beauties with soft skin yet... oh well, but this is Outland, what can I expect?"

Humming to himself, he snuggled Lady Vashj's top close to his body, before hiding it in his clothes.

"Well, since I'm here again, I might as well try to find good old Akama... he always was happy to share a drink with me, every time I came for a visit..."

Humming happily, Happosai continued his way through Outland, only stopping here and there to pummel a little beast that made the mistake of attacking the old pervert.

* * *

"Bweeeee..."

Ryoga was not in good spirits. He was wet, in his cursed form... and of course, lost again.

Escaping from those women with the purple skin and the pointy ears - from what he knew from Cairne, those must have been Night Elves - hadn't been too easy, especially not since the forest was their home and it had taken him several hours until he found the way out of the woods.

Later, he had strayed through the Barrens, hoping to meet someone that would finally show him the way to Mulgore. So he was lost in a faraway, magical world, fine! But in that case, he wanted to be with someone he knew at least... and Chieftain Cairne of the Bloodhoof tribe was the only one who fell in that category.

Too bad he had stumbled into that tribe of four-legged horse men. They weren't too tough, but they made him stumble into the oasis they were guarding. And as a small, black piglet, the Barrens suddenly seemed much bigger than normally.

Ryoga hoped he'd find some sort of human settlement - or ANY settlement, for that matter - so he could turn himself back to normal with some hot water.

But while the next being he ran into had two legs, it still wasn't a human... or a Tauren.

Gorsha was big and strong, even for an Orc. But she also had a big heart, and she loved all the cute, fuzzy, scaly and crawly critters that were living on Kalimdor. So it was no wonder that the young, inexperienced Orc had chosen to become a hunter.

And just a few hours ago, she had been taught how to catch a wild animal and tame it as a pet. And now she couldn't wait to find a little guy who could become her best friend.

When the towering Orc woman saw Ryoga's porcine form, a big smile appeared on her face. "Oh, a little piggy! How cute!"

She was a bit disappointed that it wasn't a full-grown boar, then she could have used it as a pet.

"Oh well, he would still make the cutest little companion if I caught him... come here, little fella!"

Ryoga thought of running away... but when the green-skinned woman held out her hand and moved it hypnotically in front of him, he found that he couldn't move... he was enthralled by the gestures she made.

Gorsha smiled. "Good, little piggy! Just you wait, you and I will be the bestest friends... and I will snuggle and cuddle you until you're out of breath!"

'Well, every world seems to have its Azusa...' Ryoga thought. 'But why is it me who always runs into these weirdos?'

* * *

Author's Notes:

Part one, two and three of this chapter have been written by fellow author Atropos.

In case you really didn't get the joke, the sporeling is a reference to the Toads of Super Mario Brothers, and their infamous quote of 'Sorry, but our princess is in another castle'.

I also took a few liberties in regards to Coilfang Reservoir and the plans of the Naga, since I haven't been in Outland yet in WoW.


	8. Undead Caramelldansen

For the past hour, Ranma had listened to Sylvanas' tale, to her story about what had happened during his absence in Azeroth. About the invasion of the Orcs, the foundation of the Alliance, the High Elves' withdrawal after the Second War, the emergence of the Scourge, Arthas' treachery, the downfall of Lordaeron and the Scourge's march for Quel'Thalas. Finally, Sylvanas' transformation into an undead being, the destruction of the Sunwell, the foundation of the Forsaken and finally, how the remaining High Elves had turned into the Blood Elves.

Ranma was sitting on the stairs in front of Sylvanas' throne. He couldn't believe the tragedy. For him, his visits in Quel'Thalas had always been times of happiness and joy, sunny days that he could spend with a good friend, days that allowed him to escape his own life...

But now that illusion was shattered, revealing a world that was even more harsh and unforgiving than Nerima. In Nerima, the people might be crazy and delusional... but at least there were no bloodthirsty warriors, cold-hearted warlocks, walking corpses or evil demons.

His image of a happy fantasy world had shattered in front of his eyes, transformed into something dark and disgusting... similar to Sylvanas' transformation into an undead.

"So, do you see, Ranma?" the Queen of the Forsaken whispered. She wasn't angry at her old friend anymore, but her voice was still filled with bitterness. "The Sylvanas you once knew is long gone... and I am all that remains!"

Ranma stayed silent for a moment. Then he sighed. "But... you are the same Sylvanas I knew," he then spoke up.

"How can you say that?" she snapped. "How can you look at me, see what I have become, and still say I am the same?"

"I mean: You might look different now, and sure, yer dead and everything, but... as long as I could tell, you're still the same person inside."

"Do you believe that?" Sylvanas whispered and shook her head. "Do you honestly believe that? I knew you were always pretty naive, but I never thought you were such a fool..."

"Now why did you go and do that for?" Ranma asked in annoyance. "I'm trying to help you here, ya know? Make you feel better, see?"

"I will feel better as soon as Arthas is dust underneath my feet..." Sylvanas hissed.

"Hey, I have a bone to pick with him as well," Ranma said. "Especially if I imagine what he might be doing to Akane right now... but that's what friends for, right? To help each other out. I'll help you bring that jerk down, and then we..."

"'Bring him down!' Oh, of course, we're just wander inside Icecrown Citadel and shove Arthas off his frozen throne. Easy as that!" She snorted. "Ranma, thousands of soldiers, warriors and mages have besieged his citadel and fought his legions... and do you think either of them ever returned? Even Illidan failed..."

"I dunno who that Illidan guy is, but he's no Ranma Saotome," Ranma said with determination. "I'm telling ya, if that jerk turns out to be too powerful for me, I'm just gonna train until I'm strong enough to take him down! I'd even teach you Anything Goes martial arts if I have to."

Sylvanas sneered. "Martial arts, huh? You might remember that I never believed you when you said that martial artists were more powerful than Elven Rangers... and I don't think I'm going to start believing you now."

"Then I'll prove it!" Ranma shouted and jumped to his feet. He raised his fists. "C'mon, I challenge you to a match. Then you'll see that Ranma Saotome doesn't lose!"

Sylvanas laughed. It was a bitter laugh. "If I used my Dark Ranger skills against you, you would be dead, Ranma!"

"You scared? Or do you think I wouldn't hit a girl?"

The whole situation seemed ridiculous to Sylvanas, so she just stood up and turned her back to Ranma. "If you are done wasting my time, can you leave? I still have a town to run..."

Ranma went out of his battle stance in confusion. "Wh-what? Sylvanas, I didn't want to... is it something I said? I didn't want to insult you or anything... it's just, that's the way I handle things. When I'm upset, I just spar. That makes me feel better."

"I haven't felt good ever since Arthas' cursed blade pierced my body..." she whispered.

Ranma scratched his head. Damn, this was going to be tough... whatever could he do to pull his childhood friend out of her depression?

"I know," he then said. "How about we take a stroll through the woods?" He grinned. "I know you always loved to walk through the forest whenever I came to visit. What do you say, the two of us go outside and take a little walk."

Sylvanas would have laughed if the situation wasn't so absurd. "You... want to take a walk through Tirisfal Glades?"

"Yes, why not? Isn't it a beautiful forest?"

"Oh sure, it is," Sylvanas said in a mocking tone of voice. "I'm pretty sure the Darkhounds, bats, zombies and undead Gnolls will agree when you ask them. Should I also schedule some sightseeing in the Scarlet Monastery?"

Ranma was taken aback. "You... you're making fun of me..."

"Oh, I would never dare and make fun of a martial artist," Sylvanas grumbled.

Ranma smirked. "It worked!"

Now it was the Banshee Queen's turn to be confused. "What?"

Ranma walked up to her and tapped her nose. "Made ya have fun!"

"I... I wasn't..." Sylvanas was dumbfounded. She couldn't believe how this young human man tried to cheer her up in an almost innocent way. "I... I mean... you can hardly call that having fun," she finally stuttered.

"Well, it was a beginning," he shrugged. "Got to start somewhere, right? And I'd be damned if I would let my childhood buddy down in the dumps."

Sylvanas sighed. "Ranma Saotome, you are a peculiar human, no doubt about that... but I'm afraid life doesn't work that way. And if I still had a beating heart, I would have called the attempts you made at making me feel better almost... sweet."

"You can't tell me you don't have any feelings left," Ranma proclaimed. "Look at you standing there! Listen to you talking to me! If you were really the undead monster you see yourself as, you wouldn't have hesitated to shoot me when I appeared in your throne room, ain't I right?"

Sylvanas thought about it. It was true, if Ranma had been a regular human of the Alliance who somehow had made it into her quarters, she would have ordered her guard to subdue him, either for interrogation or to give the apothecaries a new guinea pig for their experiments...

But... with Ranma at her side, and with no other reminder of her status as the Banshee Queen, she felt almost... normal. He didn't pay her the respect a queen usually deserved, but at the same time, still saw her as his best friend. Yes, he even accepted the fact that she was nothing but a walking corpse.

Also, she could use some distraction from her daily duties.

"I... think we should cancel the sightseeing tour at the monastery... but there's a pretty nice view from the top of the Zeppelin tower outside of town."

Ranma was pleasantly surprised. "You... actually want to do it?"

"I guess it's the least I owe to a friend who tried to cheer me up," she sighed. Then a grin appeared on her face. "But you will have to forgive me if we run into those bastards from the Scarlet Crusade and I use them as target practice."

* * *

Varimathras, the Dreadlord, was pacing back and forth at the entrance to the staircase that was leading up to the Royal Quarters. Never before had Lady Sylvanas insisted to talk to anyone in private, especially not a human. He really wondered what kind of relationship she and that boy shared.

Varimathras huffed. "Human feelings..." he scoffed. "I fail to see what use they are... or why that human would believe that Lady Sylvanas, as an undead, would still be able to feel anything but bitterness and hatred..."

"Lord Varimathras!" An undead scout, obviously a member of the Deathstalkers, Undercity's assassin guild, stepped in front of the dreadlord with a salute. "We received message that the Rot Hide Gnolls are once again plundering the graves north of Brill. You said to inform you immediately if we spot increased Scourge activity in that area."

Varimathras sighed. It was a trivial matter, since the undead Gnolls of the Rot Hide clan were the most pathetic troops the Scourge had to offer. "Ah yes, I see... give me that report, I will inform Lady Sylvanas... as soon as she took care of her 'guest'..." And he reached out to accept the report scroll from the scout.

Only to have it snatched out of his hand by a pink blur. "Michelle! Michelle!"

Varimathras blinked in surprise. Then he stared at the female, ALIVE human in the pink dress that had come to a stop in front of the river of green sludge that was flowing through Undercity. On her feet, she had some strange contraptions with wheels... another weird invention of the Gnomes? The girl was clutching the scroll to her bosom as if it was a long lost child.

"If you value your life, human, you hand that back to me right now!" the dreadlord demanded with glowing eyes.

Azusa Shiratori shook her head and put the scroll into her pocket. "Little Michelle belongs to Azusa now! I'll never give her back again!"

Varimathras was frustrated beyond comparison this day. At first, he had been sent out of the trone room by Lady Sylvanas, then the courier bothered him with that trivial message, and now this extremely irritating human female thought she could make a fool out of him.

"Then you DIE!" he roared. Without any warning, he thrusted his hand forwards and shot a bolt of dark energy at the young skater.

But before the projectile hit its mark, a young, pig-tailed man dove past him and pulled Azusa to safety, just before the shadow bolt hit the wall next to them.

Azusa smiled when she saw Ranma. "René!"

Ranma sweatdropped. "Um, my name's Ranma..."

He then glared at the dreadlord. "You keep her hands off her, creepy, ya hear me? You have to pick a fight, take me on for a change!"

"Ooooh, René is defending little Azusa!" the kleptomaniac gushed. "I feel all fuzzy..."

"Just what the heck is going on here?" came the thundering voice of Sylvanas Windrunner as she came down the stairs. Varimathras and the undead residents that had been attracted by the commotion quickly gave her hasty bows... it was uncommon that the Dark Queen would leave her quarters. "And Ranma! Why did you run off like that, all of a sudden?"

"I only did it to hinder that creep from harming my friend!" Ranma shouted, pointing a finger at Varimathras. "Well, my acquaintance..."

"Who is that girl?" Sylvanas demanded to know. "What is it with all those humans appearing out of nowhere today?"

"My lady, they are obviously spies, both of them!" Varimathras hissed. His fangs were bared. "The woman stole a scroll from me, a report from one of my scouts... it is obvious that she was sent by the Scarlet Crusade!"

"No way! Little Michelle wants to stay with Azusa!" Azusa proclaimed, taking the scroll out of her pocket and gently petting it.

Ranma groaned.

"The Scarlet Crusade? Excuse me, Varimathras, but I find it difficult to believe that they would send someone like her... they have much better agents than that."

"And Azusa's from the same town as I am," Ranma added. "Although, I really dunno why she's here..."

The female part of the Golden Pair smiled. "Little Azusa was busy talking to her darling ones in her room, when suddenly, she came here. Maybe it's time to visit her old friend again..."

Ranma frowned. "An old... friend?" He scratched his head. He had come to Azeroth because of his connection to Sylvanas. Akane also had an old childhood friend, Prince Arthas... and now Azusa, too?

"This is ridiculous!" Varimathras roared. "I think we should kill those intruders on the spot!"

"You will do nothing like that, dreadlord!" Sylvanas commanded. "Although I do want an explanation... Ranma, come back inside... and bring your 'friend' along!"

"Um... does that mean you don't wanna take a walk through the woods anymore?" the pig-tailed boy wondered.

"NOW!" Sylvanas yelled. Ranma winced and decided to come along. The last time a female was so angry at him, he found himself at the blunt side of a mallet.

"Come on, Azusa," he sighed. "I think it's best not to keep her waiting... oh, and I think you should give back that scroll to the, um... nice gentleman over there."

Azusa pouted. "But Michelle belongs to Little Azusa..."

"It's okay," the scout sighed. "I guess I can always write a new one..."

When Ranma and Azusa turned to follow Sylvanas back into her throne room, Varimathras followed them as well.

"DID I SAY YOU COULD COME ALONG??"

The mighty Nathrezim was stopped dead in his tracks when the heavy door was slammed right in his face.

The undead scout winced. "Ouch..." he muttered. "That must have hurt..."

Back inside, Sylvanas furiously glared at Ranma. "Okay, who is that girl, and why is she here?" she demanded to know.

"I told ya, she's a girl from my home town, and I never knew she'd come to Azeroth as well..."

Azusa tilted her head. "Is she always this loud?"

"Only when she's upset..." Ranma sighed.

"You know you should try and have fun instead of being angry," Azusa told Sylvanas. "You know what I always do when I'm feeling down?" She smiled. "I'm dancing, dancing, just dancing, dancing..."

And she began to dance a very weird dance, right in the middle of the throne room. Ranma had never seen a dance like that before, but it involved a big amount of hip-wiggling and Azusa putting her hands up to her head, to imitate bunny-ears.

"Come on, dance along!" Azusa sang. "Move your feet, shake your hips, clap your hands, sing along and do the caramel dance!"

Sylvanas could only stare. "Is she... is she for real?" she muttered.

* * *

Meanwhile...

In Elwynn Forest, a few of the hyena-like Gnolls (members of the Riverpaw Clan) ran up to the taller form of their leader.

They barked and whined at him, which could be translated to: "Chief Hogger! We stole more pumpkins from that human farm!"

"Yes, and I took these from a traveling merchant," another Gnoll spoke up, presenting some stolen candles to his boss.

"But I've got something much, much better!" the third Gnoll yipped and showed Hogger a red piece of cloth.

Hogger's muzzle split into a wide grin as he snatched the cloth out of his underling's paws. "Francoise!" he shouted with joy. "Come to little Hogger!"

The other Gnolls looked at each other in confusion, then they shrugged, dropped the rest of their loot and left their leader alone for now.

Hogger happily dug through the pile of stolen goods. "Laverne! Antoine! Charlotte! Come to me, my little darlings!"

He sighed while snuggling up to the Defias mask called Francoise. "I'm missing little Azusa..." he sniffled. "She was the only living being who ever understood Hogger..."


	9. Reunion with Drek'thar

When Shampoo re-entered the huge fortress called Grommash Hold, accompanied by Warchief Thrall, she was welcomed in a much more befitting manner of an ally of the horde. The Grunts standing guard next to the entrance saluted her respectfully - although she wasn't sure if they only did it because of the warchief's presence.

When they came back into the great hall in which she had appeared not too long ago, the first thing she saw was a tall... man (Shampoo really had no other term for him, since she knew nothing about trolls) who was much taller and lankier than the bulkier forms of the Orcs.

She barely noticed how Vol'jin raised his hand in greeting, when her gaze fell on the elderly shaman that was standing next to him.

Drek'thar stepped towards his young friend, a big smile on his green face. "Shampoo, my dear girl... how many years has it been? I am overjoyed, truly overjoyed, that the place we meet each other is this town, Orgrimmar... the new home of the Horde."

Shampoo's first impulse was to run over to her old mentor and give him a massive hug, but she realized that they were in the presence of the warchief (and apparently other, important people) and that she would have to act accordingly. Thus, she knelt down just like any other warrior of her clan would in the presence of an elder and said: "Elder Drek'thar... Shampoo is honored and overjoyed to see you again!"

"You have grown since we last met," Drek'thar smiled. "You have turned into a skilled warrior, it seems."

"She knocked Ambassador Rokhstrom out with one blow," Thrall smirked.

"Oh, really?" the shaman smirked.

"Shampoo only used bonbori," Shampoo meekly spoke up, showing her weapons to the orcs. "Good to knock enemy unconscious."

"An interesting weapon design," Thrall said. "I am curious... I've never heard of humans using such weapons before."

"I didn't think you would, Thrall," Drek'thar said. "Shampoo here is from a completely different world than our own."

"Another world... I'm not quite sure what you mean, old friend," Thrall admitted.

"It is a long story... but I guess Shampoo's presence will make today's meeting much more interesting. Come, child! Sit down with us and tell the warchief about your home world."

"With pleasure, elder shaman!" Shampoo replied.

But before she sat down, she was faced with a glass of milk that was being held in front of her nose by a blue, three-fingered hand.

Vol'jin grinned when he saw the human's confused face. "Just a lil' welcoming present, to make up for the milk you dropped after dropping by." He then winked at Shampoo, who hesitantly accepted the milk.

"Shampoo, meet Vol'jin, leader of the Darkspear Tribe of Jungle Trolls, and my personal advisor," Thrall introduced him.

"Whazzup, mon?" Vol'jin grinned. "And no matter what people like to say about the drinks of jungle trolls, lemme assure you that dere's not a single drop o' poison in that milk."

* * *

After the strange human had run out of her chambers, Tyrande had quickly put on her moon priestess robes and armed herself with her bow and a quiver of arrows.

When she ran outside, she could see that the sentinels of Darnassus were busy searching town for the intruder, even questioning passer-bys about the human boy who had run away.

"Lady Whisperwind, we were not able to track the human intruder down," one of the elite guards told her when she appeared on the scene. "Our best trackers were not able to find a single trace of him, and even the nightsabers were unable to catch his smell. It is almost like he... disappeared."

"Well, he appeared out of nowhere in my room," Tyrande said. "Maybe he was able to teleport. If he's a mage, there's not much the scouts or the nightsabers can do. Teleportation is a kind of magic our druids had never been able to understand."

"Not for the lack of trying, High Priestess," a deep voice spoke up.

Tyrande turned around and thought that her day couldn't get any worse when she saw the male druid standing next to her.

"Archdruid Staghelm..." she frowned. "What a surprise... it is rare to see you outside of the Cenarion Enclave these days."

"Please spare me the sarcasm and tell me what's going on here," the archdruid grumbled.

"An intruder," Tyrande explained. "A human appeared in my chambers. He left in a hurry, so I wasn't able to ask him why he is here."

"A human?" Staghelm raised his bushy eyebrows. "How could he enter the Temple of the Moon - and your chambers at that - without being seen by the sentinels?"

"He somehow was teleported into the room," Tyrande said. "I don't know how he did it, but he seemed a bit confused as well. My sentinels were unable to track him down."

"Well, what a surprise..." Staghelm murmured, ignoring the deep scowl that appeared on Tyrande's face afterwards. "Maybe I should ask the treants and wisps to search the forest..."

"No need for that, Archdruid," Tyrande said through clenched teeth. "The situation is under control."

"Oh, is it now?" Staghelm asked while taking a look at the efforts of the sentinels, who still were confused at the lack of any hint to where the intruder might have disappeared to. "I guess it is... after all, Tyrande Whisperwind is the most competent leader the Night Elves ever had... even in the absence of Shan'do Stormrage."

"Are you implying something, Staghelm?" Tyrande hissed.

"I am not implying anything," the archdruid shot back. "I am only concerned on how capable our 'leader' truly is if she can't even keep a single intruder out of her personal chambers. Have a nice day, High Priestess!"

And the archdruid casually walked back to the Cenarion Enclave.

"Why, the nerve..." Tyrande grumbled. She had never held much love for Fandral Staghelm and his principles, but she never had believed he would dare to say such words to her face.

Of course, she knew that Staghelm thought himself to be a much better archdruid than Malfurion ever was... and that he alone had the best plans for the future of the Night Elves. Well, Teldrassil itself was the best proof how thoughtless his plans usually were...

"Shall we keep searching, my lady?" one of the sentinels asked her.

"I don't think we will be able to capture the intruder whoever he was," Tyrande sighed. "Still, keep your eyes open, in case he returns."

"As you wish, Lady Whisperwind!"

When Tyrande walked back inside, she recalled for the first time that the stranger had mentioned Cairne Bloodhoof shortly before he ran out of her room. She wondered what connection he had to the leader of the Tauren.

She would have to send a message to Thunder Bluff to find out more. Of course, it would cause some commotion among both humans and Night Elves - after all, the Tauren were members of the Horde. But Tyrande would never forget how Night Elves, humans, Tauren, Orcs and other races had fought side by side against the Burning Legion and their undead minions. Even if Staghelm and others would never understand it, in her eyes, Cairne was a respectful ally, especially when compared with other, more dubious leaders of the Horde... such as Sylvanas Windrunner...

Tyrande was deep in thought when she entered her personal chambers. Therefore, she was unprepared for what awaited her back there.

She was surprised when she saw the brown-haired, human girl standing in front of her.

Ukyo gasped when the female Night Elf appeared in front of her. She certainly did not know what had happened... this place did not look like the same place she had always seen in her dreams, back when she was a child. No, this wasn't the 'Emerald Dream', as Furion had always called the place where she first met him. And the elf who had just entered the room definitely wasn't Furion.

Still, she remembered everything he had told her about his life outside of the Emerald Dream, especially about his loved one...

"Tyrande?" Ukyo asked hesitantly. "Tyrande Whisperwind?"

"Who are you?" Tyrande asked. She was clearly taken aback... it certainly did not happen too often that on one day, two different people appeared right in the middle of her bedroom. "And how do you know my name?"

"I... I am Ukyo," the okonomiyaki chef introduced herself. "Ukyo Kuonji... I am a good friend of Malfurion Stormrage."


	10. Nicotine girls and the sunfish challenge

"You're serious? What a jackass."

Two succubi, Xia and Angrida, leaned up against the wall smoking their felweed cigarettes and complaining about their jobs. Mother Shahraz wouldn't let them smoke inside, so they stood on the Illidari Training Grounds, watching the hordes of fel orcs drill and train for the inevitable conflict with the Legion, the Alliance, the Horde, or all three.

"Seriously. Human chick shows up out of nowhere and Illidan acts like they're bestest friends, and all Kael cares about is finishing up his massage." Xia took one last, long drag from her cigarette, flicked away the butt, and sighed. "You know, some days I think, you know, the Legion wasn't all that bad. At least there you got some respect."

"Girl, I'm telling you, you've got to get yourself assigned to entertain the fel orcs. Poor, dumb bastards have no idea what sex is, I take them into one of the private bedchambers and play patty-cake or checkers with them for half an hour or so and they come out all happy and refreshed." Angrida grinned. "Easiest damn work I've had in my life."

Xia reached into her handbag and produced another cigarette, then held it away from herself at arm's length. "Yeah, well, I'd still have Kael bothering me, he doesn't care what my real job is. And the blood elves aren't too bad. I just have to ridiculously overstate their prowess and attractiveness." Xia winced as Supremus, the burning abyssal construct patrolling around the perimeter, walked past them and the wreath of fel flames around its body ignited the tip of her cigarette. She quickly brought her hand back to her mouth to suck on the burned fingertips, then took a satisfying drag. "Honestly, I'm not that surprised that when a strange human shows up, Lord Illidan makes her his trusted confidante. Dunno if you've noticed, but it's not like we've got very competent leadership here."

Angrida shrugged. "Eh, whaddya gonna do? Not like Kil'Jaeden was doing much better. It was all 'blarg, we hate everything, all of you just go to the first object that crosses your field of vision and beat it with a stick, an EVIL, FEL stick!"

Xia grinned slyly. "We could pull a Voren'thal. Go join the Naaru. They seem to know what they're doing."

Angrida slapped her on the thigh. "Girl, get over yourself, Naaru aren't gonna take in someone like you."

She laughed, playfully insulted. "They totally would, I'll have you know I can do a perfect Draenei! Okay, okay, watch." Xia cracked her knuckles, pulled the hair out of her face, and shifted her posture to be straighter and more uptight. "Allo! I am Draenei from Exodar, yes? I have dumb glowing thing on forehead and big superiority complex! I come to vorship big glowing vindchime by hitting zhings vith improbable crystal hammer!"

Angrida tried to say something back, but she was winced over in near-silent hissing laughter, unable to respond.

"Vhat? Vhy is it you are laughing? Is because ve say ve are originals and Eredar came from us? Because zhat is totally vhat happened, for honest! Ve are not zhe demons, ve hit zhe demons wizh sticks!"

"Ooh, ooh, let me try!" Angrida closed her eyes and shook her face in an exaggerated display of 'getting into character' and spoke in a similar faux-Draenei accent. "Vhat is zhat, pink person whose species I hav never seen before? Of course ve vill be blood brothers vith you forever! Ve alzo zhink the bull-people and zhe blue people we hav alzo never seen must be destroyed! Ov course you can come in our secret sanctum and vander around! Feel free to drink from our vater fountains -- yes, zhey are made of lead, vhy do you ask?"

At this point Xia was doubled over, biting her knuckle in silent laughter, which was quite unfortunate for her. The next thing she heard wasn't more mockery of the followers of Velen, but an enraged hiss-shout coming from behind her. "YOU THINK THISSSSS ISSSSS FUNNY?"

Xia yelped in surprise, dropped her cigarette, and whirled about on one hoof to see the imposing form of the naga sorceress Lady Vashj, two of her four arms wrapped around her chest to cover her breasts. Xia had no idea where her top had went, or, for that matter, why a non-mammalian snake-woman had breasts to cover.

"WELL, SSSSUCCUBUSSSS? DO YOU SSSSOMEHOW FIND THISSSS AMUSSSSING?" the sorceress accused, and with a python-like speed she shot forward and grabbed Xia's throat in one of her free hands, holding her a good two feet off the ground. "DOESSSS THE SSSSEX DEMON FIND IT REWARDING TO DISSSSROBE HER SSSSUPERIORSSSS?"

"Gack," was Xia's reasoned and eloquent response, a form of Sayaadi shorthand for 'I never should have got out of bed this morning.'

"Vashj!" Illidan croaked from across the grounds. "Restrain your anger if you can't find a more appropriate target to unleash it upon. Put her down."

"I am ssorry, masster..." Vashj let go and Xia fell to the floor in an undignified heap of hooves, tail, wings and ass. "Sshe wass mocking me -- I wass wayliad on my way from Sserpentsshrine--"

"Oh-hohohoho-HO! Your BRA was stolen!" Kodachi crowed as if she'd just found the final piece to a grand riddle. Vashj was surprised by not just the fact that a human girl was here speaking to her, but that she was four feet away from her. With Superemus tromping around, it was impossible to hear anyone else's footsteps. "And allow me to guess! It was taken by a horrid, shrunken little man who had no interest in engaging you past the effort required to steal your undergarments?"

"Yesss... And who are you, again?"

"Clearly I was not the only one to traverse the barrier betwixt worlds!" Kodachi grinned manically, the only way she knew how to grin. "The perverted martial artist Happosai has followed me to this Outland!"

Illidan stroked his chin. "Another wanderer from your world... An ally, or enemy?"

"An ally to none, and an enemy to any woman with a bra or panties. But!" She ran a black rose across her chin with a flourish, miraculously unpierced by a single thorn. "Also a master of secrets and techniques best left forgotten. Perhaps a technique to jump across worlds -- one that will be wrung out of him once the thorns of the Black Rose sink into his flesh!"

"Wait, I'm confused," said one of Vashj's Myrmidion guards, scratching the side of his neck. "How do you know each other, again?"

* * *

"So that's about what happened on Earth, Gazlowe. Everyone is pretty worked up about Iraq, but it really doesn't hold a candle to this Dark Portal." Nabiki shrugged and shifted her seating, Gazlowe didn't have any human-sized chairs so she was sitting on the floor. "It's certainly nothing compared to Azeroth."

"Eh, I like hearing about that Earth place. It's a good story." He leaned back and set his feet up on the table, something Nabiki would do as well if the table was higher than her shin. "No magic, no demons out of nowhere, the whole thing's like a well-written thriller! You're surprised when the housing market collapses, but you think, 'all of that was out in the open, man, I should have seen it coming!'"

"That's one way of looking at it, I suppose." Nabiki took a long slurp from her cup, drawing out the last of the swiftthistle tea -- it tasted awful, but she didn't want to be an ingracious guest, and it did have quite a bit of pick-me-up. "I doubt you'd look at it the same way if you lived there. So, did you have something planned for the rest of the day, or are we going to continue to reminisce?"

"Ah, that's the Nabiki I know, not one to sit on her laurels. You remember our little challenge last time, where we each started with a raw sunfish and the first one to trade up to one gold piece without using any other supplies won?"

Her eyebrow arched and she smiled playfully. "I remember I wanted a rematch after your wind rider dropped me off in the middle of Winters-Spring."

"I remember you looked ADORABLE in that sundress, prancing about Booty Bay after you lost!" Gazlowe snapped his fingers and his Merchant's Guild servant produced a small chest filled with ice and two raw sunfish, preserved in the cold. "I'm always open for a rematch, little girl! But gold's a lot easier to come by now, it practically falls from the skies in Outland... I'm sure you'd be happy to raise the stakes?"

"Ten gold it is, you copper-pinch!" She grinned. "Just make sure your tailor cuts your dress nice and toasty, because when I win, you'll be entertaining the workers up in Everlook!"

* * *

Through a window, Kael'Thas Sunstrider was watching the scene between the two succubi, Lady Vashj, Illidan and his unusual, human ally.

"Who is this girl?" he muttered to himself while stroking his chin. "Where does she come from? And will she be a a hindrance to my plans? Most likely not. Although her arrival was unexpected, she seems to be as delusional as Illidan himself."

He stepped away from the window and walked along the corridor. "If only there was some news from Nargol and his troop... they were supposed to report back to me long before I came here from Tempest Keep..."

As if on cue, a floating eye suddenly came through the window and floated in front of the Blood Elf Prince, startling him. The Eye of Kilrogg circled him once, then a tiny beam of light was projected onto the floor in front of him. Within that light, the face of the Warlock Blood Elf Nargol appeared.

"My prince!" the warlock shouted with excitement. "I've done it... I took the Dimensional Seal from the blue dragon! He flew across the barrens, just as you said he would... we just crossed the portal, and now we're back in Outland. Of course, I know you wanted to hear from our success as soon as possible, so I sent the Eye of Kilrogg to you, with this message..."

"Idiot!" Kael grumbled as quietly as his anger would allow. "I'm not in Tempest Keep right now... I'm in the Black Temple. What if Illidan had listened to what you just told me? Our plans would have been exposed, in the blink of an eye."

Nargol had never heard his prince making puns before...

"I... I'm sorry, Prince Kael'Thas!" he winced. "I thought you'd be overjoyed..."

"I am! Still, we need to be more careful. If Illidan knew that I let you steal one of the most powerful artifacts Malygos himself created to split the barriers between the worlds..."

He then blinked and stopped himself. He stepped back to the window and looked outside, at the black-haired girl that was still standing next to Illidan.

"Could it be...?" he murmured.

"My... my prince?" Nargol asked. "Is something the matter?"

"Quick!" Kael said as he turned back to the warlock's image. "Did the artifact activate while you had it in your grasp?"

"Why, of course not!" Nargol grinned proudly. "I put it into the safety bag you personally gave me, right after we found it. It only flashed once, when I took it out to take a better look at it..."

"WHAT??" the Blood Elf prince shouted, then his hands flew over his mouth.

'I certainly hope that no one has heard that...' he thought to himself.

He took a deep breath and glared at the warlock. "Didn't I clearly tell you NOT to touch it before bringing it to me? Any other spell that might be activated by your touch might interfere with our magic when we summon..." He lowered his voice to an almost inaudible whisper. "...you-know-who."

"Forgive me, my prince!" Nargol now wailed like a little child. "I didn't meant to... it was an accident! Please, punish this unworthy one..."

"Will you calm down?" Kael hissed. He nervously looked around, hoping that nobody would hear the warlock's bawling. "I will punish you as much as you want when you bring the Dimensional Seal to Tempest Keep... and for the Sunwell's sake, don't touch it again!"

"I understand, Prince Kael..." Nargol sighed. "Will you also come back soon?"

"I will try and see if Illidan still needs my services today," Kael explained. "When you reach Tempest Keep, stay in my chamber and wait there. Maybe I will be coming home this evening..."

"Yes, my prince! Shall prepare dinner? My succubus servant is the best cook I know..."

"Oh, I think I will bring another succubus," Kael smiled as he looked out of the window, down to where a certain Sayaad called Xia was standing. "And if her abilities as a cook are as good as her abilities as a masseuse, our meal will be truly delicious..."

The image of Nargol then disappeared, and the Eye of Kilrogg flew back out of the window.

'That fool,' Kael thought. 'If he only knew the results of his carelessness... I just hope that the human girl, Kodachi, is the only creature that was brought to Azeroth by the Dimensional Seal...'

* * *

A certain area of the Black Temple was generally known as the 'Warden's Cage'. In the cage, a sleek, female figure was impatiently waiting for her long torment to end...

She glared through the iron bars of the cage, at the figure that was standing close to the cage. No one else was around.

"I can't wait any longer, Akama!" Maiev Shadowsong growled. "If you truly want Illidan's downfall, then let me out of this cage... I can't stand the thought that he does what he wants in Outland, while I am trapped like a rat..."

The broken Draenei turned his head. The long tendrils fell down on his robe, and the magical scythes in his hands were glowing with energy.

"In due time, Maiev," he said. "I've spend years planning to make my move... I can't afford to put my plans in peril by tipping my hand too soon."

"Curse you, Akama!" the imprisoned Night Elf warden hissed. "I am not a pawn in your game... my will is my own. When I unleash my wrath upon Illidan, it will have nothing to do with your foolish scheme!"

Akama just shrugged. He knew Maiev would take any opportunity to bring down Illidan... no matter how much longer he would wait before releasing her. But as things were standing now, she had no chance against the Betrayer... no, first they would need powerful allies... allies that would help them in the battle against Illidan...

Feeling thirsty, Akama reached for his belt, where a skin of dwarven stout was hanging.

His hand only met empty air.

Blinking in surprise, the Draenei turned around his head... and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he saw the diminutive, wrinkled man that was standing close to the cage, drinking from his stout...

Happosai let out a dreamy sigh. "Aaaaaah... now that is good stuff! Akama, you haven't lost your taste when it comes to exquisite drinks."

"What is this?" Maiev gasped in surprise. "Where... where did that gnome come from?"

"Happosai..." Akama muttered. "I thought I would never see you again..."

Maiev narrowed her eyes. "You KNOW this gnome?"

"Not a gnome, Happosai is a human," Akama told her. "And I see that he is as rude as ever... he still takes other people's drinks without asking..."

"Well, nice to see you too, old friend," Happosai smirked. "Long time no see, huh? And I see that you are no longer living within that shabby hut, respect... still, I think you need a new interior decorator. This dark, gloomy atmosphere is definitely out of style." He then smirked at the imprisoned Maiev. "But, I like this little piece of decoration. Akama, you old dog... are you really kinky enough to keep your women in a cage? I never knew you had it in you..."

"WHAT? You fiendish little midget, just you wait until I get out of here, then I'm gonna..." Maiev snarled.

"This temple... I am not its lord. I am merely... a servant."

"A servant, hah!" Maiev shouted. "And Illidan's servant you shall be for all eternity if you don't let me out of here."

Happosai thoughtfully rubbed his chin. "Hmmmm... it looks like many things have happened ever since I visited Draenor the last time."

"It... is a long story, old friend..." Akama sighed.

Happosai sat down. "Tell me, tell me! There's nothing that beats a nice drink and a good story at a warm fire... except, of course, for the panties of a woman... or the panties of many women... although a nice bra is also not to be scoffed at." Out of his pocket, he pulled a soft, bra-like top that had not too long ago been on the body of a certain Naga Sea Witch, and gave it a good sniff.

"Disgusting..." Maiev huffed. "Some acquaintance you have there, Akama... I really shouldn't be surprised..."

Happosai looked over his shoulder. "You shouldn't talk to your elders like that, girl! Especially not if you are the one who let herself be imprisoned in a cage... still, you don't look too bad. What do you say you do a sexy little dance while I listen to Akama's story?"

While Maiev glared daggers at Happosai, something happened to Akama that the aged Draenei would not have believed to be possible anymore: A small smile appeared on his face.

* * *

Author's Note:

The first half of this chapter (the parts with Xia and Nabiki) has been written by Atropos, not me.

Also, I know that the Eye of Kilrogg normally does not have that ability. I thought it would be interesting if people could use that spell to communicate with each other.


	11. An offer you cannot deny

Sylvanas shook her head as she sat down on her throne. "I really don't know what to do with you... under normal circumstances, I would have let my guards chase such weirdos like you out of town... no offense, Ranma!"

The pig-tailed boy sighed. "None taken, I know my life has been a pretty weird one..."

The queen of the Forsaken looked at him carefully. "Tell me, Ranma... how long do you plan on staying here?"

That question came out of nowhere. "Um... until I have to go back home, I guess," Ranma said, scratching his head. "It's not like I had a choice before..."

Sylvanas sighed. "Very well... I will allow you to stay here, because of the past we shared. But I want you to keep in mind that I am not the same person anymore. I don't have the time to do the things we used to do in Eversong Woods... and I don't really do such things anymore. I am the leader of my people, a queen, and an Undead on top of that. So only bother me when it is important, understood?"

"But, Sylvanas..." Ranma tried to speak up.

"Dammit, Ranma!" the undead High Elf shouted. "Didn't you see how Varimathras reacted when both of you appeared? There are many Forsaken that have bad experiences with the still-living... too many would want to see them dead. Not undead as we are, dead forever! The fact that many of our enemies come from only still existing human kingdom of Stormwind doesn't exactly help you here... Without my protection, your lives would be in danger."

"Ah, I can take care of such bullies," Ranma smirked. "I guess it's decent and all that you are that worried about me, but..."

"I... I'm not worried about you!" Sylvanas grumbled. "It's just that every dead body might be used by the Scourge to reinforce their own troops, and that's not what we want."

Azusa smiled. "Awww, that's soooo sweet how you care for your little friend... Azusa has many little friends at home, too, you know? Drop by some day and I'll show them to you. Jacques and Enrique and Evangeline and Sophie and..."

Could undead get headaches? To Sylvanas, it certainly felt that way. "Please, be quiet!" she grimaced. "All right, as I said, I will let you stay here until you... have to go back home or whatever it is you're doing when you vanish. But I won't have any slackers in my city, got it? If you want to stay, you will have to make yourselves useful!"

Ranma shrugged. He was used to hard work, especially when he thought about his father's training practices. "Sure, no problem! What is it you want me to do? Collect firewood?"

"Don't be ridiculous! I know you're a pretty good fighter, and do you think I would send a warrior to gather firewood - a task that could be done by any mindless ghoul? No, I want you to go on a mission, Ranma... a mission that will show me that your battle skills aren't just big talk. "It will also show your loyalty to the Forsaken, which will keep anyone who feels suspicious about you silent."

Ranma grinned. "A mission, eh? Sounds like fun. So... you want me to beat up some jerks?"

"No 'jerks', Ranma... they are the Gnolls of the Rothide clan, servants of the Scourge, and they are yet again robbing our graves for some corpses they can use as troops."

"Um... Gnolls?" Ranma wondered.

"Ooooooh, I know, I know what they are!" Azusa shouted excitedly as she jumped up and down. "They are these cute little doggies that walk on two legs and have just the most adorable little yipping voices."

Sylvanas huffed. "No Gnoll I've seen in my life could be called 'adorable'," she said. "They are cowardly little bastards who have always been a plague... but these Gnolls are even worse. They are undead, which means you don't need to have any qualms when fighting them. They are already dead, and they have been enslaved by the Scourge anyways, so just end their pathetic little existances! Drive them from the Mass Graves north of Brill and make sure to get them all!"

Ranma was taken aback by the harshness in Sylvanas' voice. "Gee, isn't that a bit harsh? I'm not a killer, you know? I'm a martial artist. And I never beat on a defenseless opponent."

"You want them to reinforce their troops instead?" Sylvanas snapped. "They are no living creatures, you don't have to feel any pity for them! If you don't do it, I will send someone else to do the job."

Ranma sighed. He really didn't like how much his friend had changed. He wondered if there were any morals left in her... but maybe he could bring her back to the right path somehow. And if those Gnoll things really were just animated corpses... well, no harm in beating them up a bit, right?"

"Okay, I'll do it."

"Me too," Azusa said, clapping her hands. "If they are all as cute as Azusa's little friend Hogger, maybe little Azusa can keep one as a pet."

Sylvanas resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"But say, Sylvanas..." Ranma then said.

She sighed. "Yes, what is it?"

Ranma grinned sheepishly. "I have no idea where this 'Brill' place is you talked about... can you give us some directions?"

The Banshee Queen thought about it. "Well, I guess it's best I let one of my subjects come along with you... after all, we also need to make sure that the Rothides haven't done any strange experiments with the corpses. VARIMATHRAS!"

Upon hearing the loud shout of his queen, the Dreadlord quickly came in. He gave the two living humans hateful glares before giving Sylvanas a hasty bow. "Yes, my queen?"

"Tell one of our warlocks to come here. I need someone to accompany Ranma and... Azusa to the mass graves. I want them to take care of our little Gnoll infestation..."

Varimathras looked like he would love to rip out the humans' innards instead, but he bowed his head and murmured: "As you command, my lady! If I may suggest someone, Cadavrine has requested to prove her skills some time ago."

"The recently-awakened youngster from Andorhal? Yes, I remember her... she was quite eager to prove her abilities and her devotion to our cause... Well, she's not as experienced as other warlocks we have, but after all, taking care of a few undead Gnolls shouldn't be a problem. Very well, Varimathras, tell Cadavrine to come here right away."

"Yes, my lady!" the Dreadlord nodded as he left the royal chamber.

Ranma frowned. "Cadavrine... what kind of name is that?"

"Obviously not her original name," Sylvanas said. "Before she died, she was a young girl from Andorhal, one of Lordaeron's largest cities. As it happened to many of the humans who fell victim to the undead plague, she became a servant of the Lich King. Only recently did our necromancers manage to free her will, making her one of the Forsaken. Ever since she regained her will, she wanted to make the Scourge pay for what they had forced her to do, and for what they did to her hometown."

"And she's a... warlock?" Ranma asked. "Um, I'm not an expert, but wouldn't the correct term be 'witch'?"

"Um, please excuse Azusa, but... what IS a 'warlock'?" Azusa wondered.

"A practitioner of the dark arts," Sylvanas explained. "A conjurer of demons... a former mage that pursued the darker paths of magic in exchange for more power. In Cadavrine's case, she wanted to achieve these powers as a means to revenge."

"Summoning demons?" All of a sudden, Ranma was reminded of Hikaru Gosunkugi. "Um, isn't that a bad thing?"

"Not as long as you have them under your control," a voice coming from the entrance said.

Ranma turned around and looked into the pale, half-rotten face of a girl who looked like she must have been beautiful back when she was still alive. Her black hair was covered with patches of mold and went down to her shoulders. She was wearing dark blue robes and held a small wand with a purple-glowing tip. Behind her, a sinister, blue-glowing figure had entered the room. The creature didn't have any feet and floated just above the floor, and it looked like it had come right out of a black cloud. Its glowing eyes were scanning the room, and when it saw the two living beings, the being hissed in a spooky, inhuman voice.

"Don't let yourselves get startled by Klathmon's appearance," the female warlock said. "You've never seen a Voidwalker before, haven't you?"

"Um... I can't say I have..." Ranma muttered dumbfounded.

"He won't hurt you..." the undead girl whispered. "He listens to my command... I am his mistress..." She suddenly smirked at Ranma. "But you can call me Cadavrine!"

* * *

Akane shivered. She was cold. She was hungry. She was miserable. And, even though she hated to admit it, she was frightened. She wanted to leave this place, to go back home to her family, to a place where the biggest danger would be a fondle of Happosai, a reciting of bad poetry ba Kuno... or a kidnapping by yet another prince who wanted to make her his bride.

But this? This was unlike anything she had experienced yet. The stinging cold made her heart freeze, and the sheer terror of what had happened to Arthas, what he had done to all these creatures and to Lordearon, to his friends, to his father... and what he would do to herself... all of this shook Akane more than she could have ever imagined.

For a short while, she had believed that, if she waited long enough, she would simply disappear and wake up in her bed, as she always did when she had visited Lordaeron before... but as the hours passed, nothing like that happened.

"R-ranma..." she whispered. "D-daddy... Kasumi-neechan... Nabiki... I'm s-sorry..."

She was sorry for being this weak. She wanted to be the strongest girl in Nerima... yet she was shivering like a little girl in a dark forest.

And the longer she waited, the more grew her desire to be freed from this torture. If there was any sort of lethal weapon in her cell, she didn't know if she would have the will to resist the urge to take it and end her own life.

She had tried summoning her own mallet, so she could at least knock herself unconscious... but she didn't bring up enough focus to concentrate. It was hopeless.

When the torture became unbearable, Akane truly wished to die.

She let out a deafening scream, threw her body against the bars of her cell and tried shaking them. "LEMME OUT!" she screamed. "I CAN'T STAND THIS ANY LONGER! KILL ME ALREADY! DID YOU HEAR ME, ARTHAS? KILL ME, IF THAT'S WHAT YOU WANNA DO! KILL ME AND GET IT OVER WITH! I... I..."

"You want to die, right?"

Akane gasped. This time, she hadn't even noticed how Arthas had appeared in front of her jail. He held out his hand and reached through the iron bars, stroking Akane's cheek. "Tell me... how much do you desire death?"

"P... please, just let me die..." Akane whimpered. She always had believed herself to be a strong-willed girl, but this was too much.

"How much?" Arthas whispered. "Tell me how much you desire it..."

Akane gulped while the frozen tears were stinging on her face. "More than... anything else!"

"Really?" Arthas smiled. "More than anything else, you say? More than seeing your family again? More than being with your precious Ranma? More than enjoying a nice, warm meal and a good night's sleep in a warm, comfortable bed?"

Right now, Akane couldn't even imagine what warmth would feel like. All of her feelings were drained out of her body, except for cold and pain.

"Yes..." she whispered. "I just wish for this to end..."

The Lich King knelt down. "Do you..." he whispered, this time speaking with two whispering voices at once. "Do you wish to be free of this torture? Of this fear of death? Do you accept anything to be released of this fear?"

"I... I..." Akane stuttered, not being able to think clearly.

The Lich King moved his face closer to Akane, the iron bars being the only thing that separated their faces. "Do you accept... anything? Will you... pledge loyalty to me? Will you become my immortal champion, my strongest general and my angel of wrath? Will you accept all these gifts in exchange for the gift of... immortality?"

"I... I don't want to fear death..." Akane stuttered, feeling so weak in the presence of the most powerful creature on Azeroth. She was just a mere human... nothing in the face of death...

But... if she could conquer death... she wouldn't have to be afraid of anything anymore. She could become stronger, just as she always wanted... she could do anything...

"Accept!" the Lich King grinned as he held out his hand. "Accept my offer, and I will make you the second most powerful being on Azeroth!"

"I... I..." Akane hesitated, a tiny voice in the back of her mind told her that this was wrong. But... she knew she couldn't endure this any longer. If this was the way to end her torture... and to achieve her goals... then so be it!

"I accept," she finally said and took the Lich King's gloved hand.

In that moment, her heart stopped beating.

* * *

Author's Note:

Cadavrine is one of my own World of Warcraft characters, and her Voidwalker is indeed called Klathmon.


	12. Oh my, Stormwind

In that moment, Akane's heart stopped beating.

For that one moment, she felt nothing as though time itself had stopped.

Then, shattering the stillness of the moment, she felt an unending well of power course into her. Her heart, which had been frozen for the moment, began to beat at a pace she thought would rip it from her chest. This power that coursed through her, it sang to her, it had the same rhythm as her pulse. It flooded the very core of her being, remolding her in its image. It taught her about the cold. It taught her how to embrace the cold. It taught her how to become the cold. She was not the cold that was the blizzard, plaguing one tirelessly slowly, draining one to oblivion. She was not the cold that was the glacier, a slow and unstoppable giant that plowed through everything in an endless decent. No, she was the coldest of all the colds. She was the cold so cold that it burned. This cold was the power that flowed through her veins. The power of blood.

So caught up in this song to her, she barely noticed as rotten bodies swarmed around her, dragging her away toward the sounds of clanging and hammering. Upon arriving at what appeared to be some type of forge, they ripped the ragged remains of her clothing from her body. Grotesque hands began to dress her first in simple undergarments, then in an exotic runed set of plate mail molded to her body.

As the crescendo of power that had washed through her began to ebb down to a pulsing beat, Akane began to take note of the change in her surroundings and attire. Glancing around, she saw two ghouls bringing over a large vertical slab of ice that had been smoothed to a mirror shine on one side to allow her to see her reflection. Walking over to the improvised mirror, she gazed into it eagerly to see her new visage.

The being that gazed back at her was markedly different then the Akane she had been just hours previously. Gone was the school uniform, replaced with a set of armour that spoke of the power of the wearer. Forged from the hardest saronite, the armor was crafted with the motif of a frost wyrm with what looked to be two juvenile skulls as shoulder adornments and two smaller ones at the knees. The gauntlets resembled claws or talons, and the back of the armor had an ice blue cape with ragged edges, and the crest of the scourge emblazoned on it. However, while her new raiment had been noticed, what caught her attention the most was her face. Her once dark blue, almost black hair had paled to the light blue coloring of a glacier. He skin was now the shade of snow. And her eyes, her eyes now had no discernible features other than an eerie glow that filled those sockets. The only covering on her head was a small blue circlet from which she could feel a torrent of magical energy held within.

A small thud from behind her caught her attention and she turned to see what it was. A ghoul was down on one knee holding up an exquisitely crafted blade with runes inscribed along the length of the blade down to the hilt, which was designed to look like two dueling dragons. With a smile Akane lifted the blade, tested its balance, then swiftly decapitated the ghoul in front of her before tossing the blade away like trash. Turning to the undead smiths in the room she gave a simple command: "Make me a hammer!", before stalking out of the room, heading to where she could sense her new lord.

She found him seated on his throne, the wind whipping around him, with the Frostmourne loosely griped in one hand. Beside him standing was a lich that managed to give off a very dour expression at this turn of events despite the lack of facial muscles. Bowing her head before Arthas, she went to one knee.

"Hail to the Lich King, Lord of Azeroth!" she whispered.

"Rise, Death Knight," the Lich King whispered in the duality of his two voices. "And stand proud in front of me. Soon enough, the world will tremble in front of the new general of the Scourge: The Lady Akane!"

Akane rose to her feet and grinned. She flexed her arms and sighed. This power... yes, he had been right: She would never have to be afraid of the cold of death again. Now she WAS that cold, and she could do whatever she wanted... and that was to serve her king for all eternity.

"I am ready for everything you throw at me, Arthas!" she smirked. She gave off a short laugh. "Ranma always said he was the strongest martial artist? Well, now we'll see that no one will ever be as powerful as I am... or you, for that matter!"

"Mind your mouth, girl!" the lich hovering next to the Frozen Throne hissed. "You are standing in front of your king... you WILL show him your respect!"

The Lich King smiled behind the mask of his helmet. "It's all right, Kel'Thuzad," he said, once again with the singular voice of the former prince of Lordaeron. "She is on our side now. And she is, like she had been in our childhood, my very dear and personal friend... I shall allow her and her alone to call me by my old name."

"That's right, and don't you forget it!" Akane grinned. "And who are you supposed to be, Mr. Floaty Skeleton?"

While the lich looked like he was seething with rage (quite a remarkable sight for a creature whose main powers lie in the control of the cold), Arthas gave his childhood friend the hint of a smile. "Akane, Kel'Thuzad is my majordomo, my trusted advisor and the most powerful lich in my service... over the years, he has proven to be the most loyal of my followers. Within my army, he is third-ranked in the chain of command."

Kel'Thuzad couldn't believe his ears... had he still any. Third-ranked? He had been second-ranked ever since his master had become the new Lich King.

"But even though you are now second only to me, try to see him and my other generals as your equals, Akane," Arthas told her. "After all, you will have to work together on the battlefield. Soon enough, you will also meet the others, such as the Crypt Lord Anub'arak, and Highlord Darion Mograine..."

"Yeah, sure, sure..." Akane said, not sounding very interested. "Still, when do I get to see some action? Right after my new weapon is ready, I hope?"

Arthas blinked. "Your new... weapon? What happened to the Runeblade I had made for you?"

"Sorry, not the right thing for me," Akane said. "I need something more satisfying... a good, solid hammer, brought down on an opponent's skull... THAT'S what I need!" She grinned. "I already gave instructions to make me one..."

The Lich King frowned. It was unusual for a Death Knight to have a war hammer... after all, that was the main weapon of the paladins. He shuddered, being reminded of his time with Uther Lightbringer...

Still, he had to admit, with the correct runes crafted into its head, a war hammer could also be an effective Death Knight weapon.

"Very well... as soon as it is finished, a first test of your strength and your new powers will await you. I will demonstrate your might in front of my army... by pitting you against one of my strongest warriors. I know you will be able to handle him..."

"I can't wait!" Akane said, pumping her fist. "But... it's not going to be some sort of wimp, right? I mean, I want some sort of challenge..."

Arthas smiled. "Oh, you won't be disappointed."

"Good. Now, before the fun begins, is there some place where I can freshen up?"

The Lich King and Kel'Thuzad both looked at each other in irritation. "Freshen... up?" Never before had a Death Knight used such a phrase.

"Yeah, I mean, I've been lying in that cell for how long, four hours? I'm starved! I need something to eat!" She then sniffed her hair. "ANd boy, do I stink... I need to take a bath. Is there some place I can go? You HAVE prepared a personal room for me, haven't you?" she asked her king.

"Well, yes..." he said.

"Then what are you waiting for?" she grinned. "Show me the way!"

"Um... this Banshee will show you the way," Arthas said, waving his head. Floating directly through the wall came the transparent form of a spiritual woman, one of the Banshees that were still under his command, after Sylvanas had taken so many along with her when she defied him and formed the Forsaken...

The undead elf woman gave her new mistress a bow. "Please, this way, my lady..." she whispered, floating ahead.

Akane followed her, but turned her head to look at Arthas one more time before leaving. "See ya later!" she said... and winked.

When they were gone, Arthas sat back on his throne.

Kel'Thuzad cleared his throat. "She certainly is... unusual, my king!"

"Yes..." the Lich King muttered. "Yes, she is..."

"But my master, how can you be so sure that she will really stay on our side? You have left too much of her mind intact... aren't you worried that she might defy you?"

"No worries about that, lich!" the king said. "Her soul is now tainted, and bound to me. Serving me will now be more important to her than anything else... even her family."

"Still... the way she acts... a war hammer instead of a runeblade... a personal chamber... and now a BATH? Never before has any of our Death Knights desired anything else but to fight in your services."

"Why, Kel'Thuzad," the Lich King smiled. "Are you envious? Envious that you had to make way for her? That there is someone else who might be closer to me than you are?"

"My... my king..." the lich stuttered and bowed his head. "I will always be grateful for being in your service... and it is not in my place to criticize your decisions. If you say that she will lead us to victory, then so shall it be!"

"Well said, lich!" Arthas nodded. "Now, leave me for now... I need to think."

"Yes, of course, my king!" Kel'Thuzad bowed one more time, then he floated out of the throne room.

But when he floated through the dark and cold corridors of Icecrown Citadel, his thoughts wandered back to the new general. "Lady Akane..." he murmured to himself. "Are you honestly our puppet now... or are you playing your own game?"

He had to find out just how much of her loyalty was genuine, and how much she might still be clinging to her old life...

He summoned one of the Banshees that he knew had been assigned as Akane's new, personal servants and asked her for the directions to her quarters.

The Banshee gestured along the corridor. "This way, Archlich!" she whispered. "But... High Lady Akane has made it clear that she does not want to be disturbed."

"I am still the Lich King's right hand, pitiful servant!" the lich boomed. "Now get out of my way!"

"Y-yes, Archlich..." the Banshee stuttered and quickly flitted to the side, allowing Kel'Thuzad to reach the big double door in front of Akane's personal quarters.

"Maybe I should gain her trust..." he murmured. "So I can keep a close eye on her... when she sees me as a confidant instead of a rival, she won't realize that I am spying on her..."

Nodding to himself, his bony hand reached out for the door's handle. He slowly opened it and peeked inside the room. "Lady Akane, if I may have one word with you..."

His spectral eyes widened when he saw that Akane wasn't wearing her armor anymore... she wasn't wearing much more than her undergarments, actually, and she was just about to slip out of her bra.

"AAAAH!" she screamed. "YOU CREEP! GET OUT!"

"I... I didn't mean to..." Kel'Thuzad stammered, for once lucky that he was an undead lich, which was the only thing that prevented him from a massive nosebleed.

With one swift motion, Akane raised the massive hammer - where did it come from, anyways? - and stormed at the hapless lich. "KEL'THUZAD NO BAKA!" she yelled.

* * *

While all of this happened, Arthas was sitting on his throne, brooding. "Akane was coming from another world..." he pondered. "I never thought about it before, but... if there are more powerful warriors living in that world, maybe it would be best to find out more about how she always managed to appear in front of me... first in Lordaeron, now here in Northrend!"

He slowly rubbed his chin. "And Kel'Thuzad has a point... while I want her to have more personality than most of my generals, I don't want to risk losing her to her human feelings..."

Then he had an idea. "Oh, I know," he smiled. "When I know how Akane got here, I will find out where her family lives... and I will make them members of the Scourge as well. If her strength is in her blood, then her other family members would make fine additions to my army. Akane will be satisfied to have them at her side, and they will be forever grateful..." He chuckled. "Let's see... she once told me that her mother isn't alive anymore. That leaves her father... and her two sisters, of course..."

* * *

"Oh my!" Kasumi exclaimed as she looked up at the huge harbor walls that were rising in front of her. "Where in the world am I?"

She had been standing in the kitchen, finishing her preparations for dinner... and then she had called for her family. It had been very unusual when neither Nabiki nor Akane had given her any sort of reply... so she went upstairs to find them.

To her surprise, she had found that both of their rooms were empty. had they left to eat with friends, she wondered? Also, it was unusual that Mr. Saotome and Ranma both hadn't come to eat when she had called... normally they were the first to arrive when there was food on the table.

She had wanted to ask her father if he knew anything, so she walked back downstairs... but just as she stepped on the stairs, she found herself someplace else. Meaning, at the very place she was standing right now. A place, close to the ocean, with several docks behind her, and big sailing ships, whose flags were billowing in the sea breeze... as was her long hair.

"I've never seen a town like this before..." she murmured as she looked up at the city walls that were towering above her. "These lion statues... they are so beautiful... but also, so... archaic. It's almost as if I've traveled backwards in time..."

"LOOK OUT!" a voice gasped, and then someone collided with her backside. Kasumi saw long, slender arms coming around her, keeping her from falling down. The most unusual thing about them was: Their skin was a deep purple.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry!" the person who had nearly ran Kasumi over said. "I didn't look where I was going... clumsy me... you're not hurt, are you?"

"N-no... no, I'm fine, thank you..." Kasumi turned around to face the person who had been talking to her.

Long, pointed ears and turquoise hair framed the violet face of the girl, the hair cut in a way that reminded Kasumi of Nabiki. The girl was wearing an outfit that was almost completely made of leather, up to the green cape that was hanging from her shoulders. A long staff with a crescent moon at its tip was strapped to her back.

The strange girl chuckled. "Honestly, what was I thinking? The first citizen of Stormwind I meet, and I have to run her over."

"Um... excuse me?" Kasumi said. "I... I am not from... Stormwind. I'm from Nerima..."

"Really, another visitor?" the purple-skinned girl gasped. "Oh, what a coincidence! This is my first visit in Stormwind, too! My ship just arrived here from Auberdine... and wow, lemme tell you, what a trip! I've never moved further away from home than Darkshore... so I'm actually a bit nervous. So yeah, I haven't really met that many human yet, either..."

"Oh, that's okay," Kasumi smiled nervously, not really knowing what she was talking about. "Myself, I've never met a... a..."

"A Night Elf?" the girl grinned. "Well, true, we rarely are seen outside of Kalimdor, that's for sure... and if we are, we are mostly visiting the big cities... like Stormwind!" She gestured up to the city above them. "So, if you are here for a visit as well, what do you say we take a tour through town together? Or are you busy right now?"

Kasumi wanted to tell the nice elf girl that she was about to make dinner for her family... but since she wasn't even in her kitchen anymore, that would sound kind of silly.

Besides, she had always ben a bit envious of all the exciting things that always happened to Akane and Ranma. And this place didn't really look too frightening... and the girl she had run into (or rather the other way around) seemed nice enough.

"Well, I guess I have some time," she smiled. "Say, I didn't get your name..."

"Oh, how silly!" the Night Elf said and bopped herself on the head with her knuckles. "In all the excitement, I forgot to introduce myself..." She raised her hand. "Greetings, I am Kairi Galesong from Auberdine, a druid-in-training... pleased to meet you!"

Kasumi was surprised at the soft flapping of wings... and then, a brown-feathered owl landed gently on the outstretched arm of Kairi.

"Oh, and this is my pet , Luma," Kairi smiled. "She's a great horned owl... and the best friend you could imagine!"

"Oh, she's cute!" Kasumi smiled as she gently petted the owl's feathers. "And I am Kasumi... Kasumi Tendo!"

And Kasumi couldn't help but wonder... she remembered how her younger sister always used to tell her tales of their imaginary friends, back when they were young... Akane of a young, charming prince, and Nabiki of a sly, but smart kobold... or was it an imp? Anyways, now that she stood in front of a genuine Night Elf... she couldn't help but wonder if the tales of her sisters had been more than just stories...

* * *

Author's Notes:

The first part of the first paragraph was written by fellow author Critic.

Kairi is another of my World of Warcraft characters, a Night Elf druid, obviously. I might introduce one or two more of my characters at a certain point of this story... but definitely not more than four. And they won't all have an important role in the story.


	13. They bring PANDAMONIUM!

Ranma nervously tapped his foot while the elevator took him, Azusa and Cadavrine up to the surface. Azusa happily hummed a song, while the undead warlock just glared into space.

"So... why did ya build this city underground?" Ranma finally wondered.

"Undercity was meant to be the capital of Arthas' new kingdom," Cadavrine explained. "When Sylvanas and her Banshees rebelled, the construction was already under way, so after he left, she simply took what was there and made it the new capital of the Forsaken."

"Just like that?" Ranma wondered.

"Not at once... at first, she had to take care of a nuisance."

"Um... what kind of nuisance?"

Cadavrine moved her head to look at him. "Dreadlords," she said.

"What's a Dreadlord?" Azusa asked with sudden interest.

"You saw Varimathras, Lady Sylvanas' right hand, right? Well, he's a Dreadlord!"

"Oh, the cutie with the wings and the adorable white face?" Azusa giggled. "I called him Victor!"

Cadavrine would have raised an eybrow, if they weren't already rotten. "What's with you and those weird names?" she asked. "They sound so strange... and those Thalassian names? And who could ever think a Dreadlord cute?"

Ranma sighed. "Azusa thinks that almost everything is cute, and she gives almost everything she sees a French name... and if it's small enough to take away, she'll take it. She's Nerima's most annoying kleptomaniac..."

Azusa smiled. "Why, thank you!"

The undead woman shook her head. "I don't want to know where you two come from, but even though we are undead, and even though the Scourge robbed us of almost everything we had, including our lives, we refuse to give up the last bit of dignity we have."

The elevator came to a stop... and a horrible stench flooded the room as the doors opened. Ranma grimaced when they walked past another pair of grotesque creatures. The Abominations were undead creations that were patched up from several corpses. A cloud of green, stinking mist surrounded them, and three disproportionate arm-like limbs were sticking out of their swollen body, holding wicked cleavers.

Sylvanas had already explained to them of the necessity of these monsters, but Ranma still felt sick whenever he saw them. Walking through a city of walking, dead people was unnerving enough, but whoever came up with these creatures was just sick.

"They are remains of the Scourge troops Arthas had been forced to leave behind when he left for Northrend," Sylvanas had explained. "Without the will of the Lich King controlling them, our necromancers were able to turn them into efficient guards. They aren't very bright, but very loyal, and incredibly strong."

Ranma thought that one well-aimed Moko Takabisha would be enough to cause the different body parts to fall apart, but he kept silent... just as he kept silent about the whole wrongness of this city. He knew Sylvanas and her Forsaken hadn't chosen to be like this. Still... they seemed to embrace their undeath instead of trying to find a cure. Also, wasn't it better to die a natural death instead of extending your undead existance even further?

Something told him that the solution couldn't be that simple, and he pitied the poor souls that were forced to live in Undercity.

A small corridor lead them into a big, ruined hall. Some sort of throne was standing on the far end, and an eerie silence was hanging in the room. Like all of Undercity, this place reeked of death. But... there was also something melancholic and sad about this room.

Cadavrine looked at the empty throne and gave it a short, respectful nod, before she turned around and walked to the exit. "Come on, this way!" she said.

Azusa followed her right away, but Ranma gave the throne one final look. For a moment, he could have sworn he had heard a voice... but the room was as silent as a grave.

He realized that they were inside some sort of castle, and this castle was standing in a huge, ruined city. Still, they didn't have to walk very far before they reached the main gates and the edge of Tirisfal Woods.

"What happened here?" he wondered. "This town... it's abandoned! Where are all the people?"

"Lordaeron was the capital of this kingdom," Cadavrine whispered. "And King Terenas was a wise and just ruler, loved by his people... Lordaeron was one of the biggest human nations, and it was a haven for the refugees from Stormwind during the Second War."

She closed her eyes. "But then... after we thought the nightmare was over, and the menace of the Orcs was nothing more than a passed dream... the next nightmare came, in the shape of the Forsaken. And it was King Terenas' own son, Prince Arthas, who let himself be twisted and corrupted by them, until he became a Death Knight... and when he returned, his first action was to kill his father."

"Arthas..." Ranma murmured. The more he heard about that guy, the less he liked him. He looked around. 'So, this is the city where Akane used to appear when she was a kid... I hope she will never see it... she would be shocked to see it like this.'

Cadavrine took a small wand out of her robe as she looked at the trees that were looming in front of them. The forest looked as if it had once been beautiful, maybe as beautiful as Silverpine Forest in the land of Elves... but something seemed to have sapped the earth's life away. There were still plants growing, but they were dark and disheartening. An unnatural darkness was hanging over the land, and not a single bird was singing.

This image was enough to even wipe the ever-present smile from Azusa's face. "I... don't like this place," she murmured, stepping closer to Ranma. "What happened to the trees?"

"The undead plague..." Cadavrine grumbled, but that was all explanation she gave them. She made a small motion with her left hand. "Klathmon..."

"At your command, mistress..." the Voidwalker hissed as he came floating forth. Ranma jumped in surprise - he almost forgot that the demonic companion of Cadavrine had been behind them all the time. Klathmon was able to move without making any sound.

"The town of Brill is down this road," Cadavrine murmured. "But we shouldn't go there, the residents don't trust any living person that's not part of the Horde..."

"The... Horde?" Ranma wondered.

"Stop asking so many questions!" the Forsaken snapped. "I'm not a tour guide, I was just instructed to help you chase the Gnolls away. So shut up and do your job!"

Ranma crossed his arms. "Hey, you can't tell me what to do! I only do this to do Sylvanas a favor."

Klathmon shoved himself in-between his warlock and the pig-tailed youth. "Mistressss... you want me to teach this impertinent mortal a lesson?"

"Sadly, we have personal order from Lady Sylvanas to bring him back in one piece..." Cadavrine growled. "All right... stay out of my way, let me do my job, and I think we might just be able to get along fine."

Ranma frowned, but he nodded.

Azusa smiled. "Oh, would you look at this? You're almost good friends already!" And she wrapped her arms around the martial artist and the undead warlock in one big hug. Ranma was just annoyed, but Cadavrine looked like she was ready to kill the pink-dressed kleptomaniac.

* * *

Tyrande Whisperwind and Ukyo Kuonji were standing on one of the Temple of the Moon's balconys and let their gazes sweep across the city of Darnassus that was lying below them.

The High Priestess offered her visitor a glass of moonberry juice. Ukyo accepted it with a smile. "Thanks."

She took a sip of the refreshing drink, then she looked back at the mysterious Night Elf city. "Whenever I visited Malfurion in the Emerald Dream, he told me of his homeland... but I could have never imagined that it was THIS beautiful. And you're saying that this whole town is on top of a giant tree?"

"Not just Darnassus," Tyrande explained. "Teldrassil - that's the name of the tree - is bigger than a mountain. Darnassus only covers one third of it. There are also the villages Dolanaar, Rut'theran and Starbreeze Village... and Aldrassil, the place where all young, aspiring Night Elf adventurers train. But Teldrassil still isn't as big as the World Tree had been..."

"Yeah, Malfurion told me about it," Ukyo smiled. "It's situated on the mainland of Kalimdor, isn't it?"

Tyrande looked down. "Not anymore..." she said, and a single tear appeared in her eye. "We had to... destroy it."

"Destroy it?" Ukyo gasped. "But... Malfurion always told me that the tree is what gave you Night Elves your immortality."

"So you see why it was such a big sacrifice," Tyrande sighed. "But we had to do it... or else Archimonde and the Burning Legion would have destroyed all of Azeroth."

"Archimonde?" Ukyo wondered.

An expression of hatred appeared on the priestess' beautiful face. "Archimonde, the Defiler..." she whispered. "One of the two last leaders of the Burning Legion, our mortal enemies..."

Ukyo shuddered. Her old friend had told her of the Night Elves' ancient nemesis, the demons, of course... but according to him, the last time they had appeared on Azeroth had been several thousands of years ago. "Is he... still around?" Maybe it wasn't such a good time to visit Azeroth after all...

"No, he was destroyed along with the World Tree," Tyrande said. "Malfurion summoned the Wisps, the ancient guardians of the forest, using the Horn of Cenarius. They gathered around the archdemon, incinerating him in a massive explosion. They knew this would also cause irreversible damage to the World Tree, but they, as well as we, knew they had to make the sacrifice. But the Legion is still present on Azeroth, and we fight every day to keep them at bay..."

"I... I'm sorry to hear that..." Ukyo murmured. It was depressing that this story was the first thing she learned after coming to Azeroth after so many years. She had always looked forward to this day... and now she learned that her old mentor was missing, and that the demons they had fought so long ago were back.

"Well, at least we have loyal and formidable allies now," Tyrande then smiled. "The humans of Stormwind, the Dwarves of Ironforge, the Draenei that crash-landed here with their ship, the Exodar... and even the cunning gnomes of Gnomeregan. Together, we all form the Alliance... and together, we will face the Legion and all their servants and supporters."

"If... if there's anything I can do to help..." Ukyo said.

Tyrande smirked. "Well, I don't know if you could fight any demons... but we always need helpers here on Teldrassil."

"I'll do what I can!" Ukyo said confidently. "Your Sentinels need a good meal? Ucchan will prepare the best okonomiyaki Darnassus has ever seen. You need me to teach someone a lesson? I'll show them that my battle spatula is not just for show. You need a shoulder to cry on? Ucchan's on the job!" And the young chef gave the moon priestess a wink.

Tyrande couldn't help but snicker. It happened rarely, but this young human had just raised her spirits. She could see how her Furion had put high hopes in this girl... still, she would have to find out just what he meant when he had contacted her in her dream and told her that Ukyo's appearance would be the beginning of a big change...

"So, where do I start?" Ukyo asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Any troublemakers to take out?"

"Well, there is one person I would love to see at the receiving end of your weapon," Tyrande chuckled as she looked at Ukyo's big spatula. "But as much as I would like to give him a good slap in the face, there's not too much I can do, since he was appointed the new Archdruid, after Malfurion's disappearance..."

"Awww, to bad... a real jerk, I take it?"

Tyrande smirked. "A first class jerk, indeed!" Oh yes, she would give more than her immortality to see Staghelm being clobbered like a pinata.

"Trust me, sugar, I have dealt with jerks back in my world, too... heck, the father of my fianc... I mean, my childhood buddy stole away my father's cart when I was just a kid. But hey, at least I won't be troubled by Genma Saotome as long as I'm here on Azeroth!" She grinned.

* * *

The big panda groaned as he leaned back against the tree. There wasn't too much shadow on the Barrens, so he was glad that he found this tree after having wandered about this hot land, while the searing sun was making his fur smoulder.

It was bad enough that he had found himself in the middle of nowhere after having woken up from his nap... but even worse was the fact that there was no water around him, and he had yet to find some. The warm panda fur was making this heat much harder to endure.

If only he knew where he was right now... he was beginning to think that this was how the Hibiki boy must feel.

Genma blinked when suddenly, a massive mug with a foamy drink inside was being held in front of his face... and, judging from the smell, it was an alcoholic beverage.

The mug also wasn't held by a hand... but by a black, furry paw.

Genma looked up... and looked right into the grinning face of a panda... although the panda in front of him was walking on his hind legs and wore clothing.

Chen Stormstout grinned. "Well, I'll be... I didn't think I would find one of you guys out here, so far away from Pandaria. But, as I'm a noble Pandaren and Brewmaster, I'm always willing to share my drinks with a poor, thirsty guy like you are. Here, take a sip... this'll put hair all over you!" He let out a guttural laugh.

Genma blinked at the mug of beer... and then he accepted it with a thankful growl. This land wasn't so bad if even the pandas were this hospitable...


	14. Tauren have no needs for mallets

"Just you wait, little piggy!" the orcish amazon of a woman called Gorsha smiled as she held P-chan within her muscular arms. "As soon as we're at the Crossroads, I'll buy aa nice collar for you... that bandana is cute and all, but I definitely need something to attach a leash on you... you just get lost too often without it."

Ryoga tried to squirm out of his captor's grasp when he heard that. Being put on a leash was certainly not how he wanted to overcome his habit of getting lost. He couldn't believe his bad luck. For two days was he forced to come along with this green-skinned woman, and all she did was wandering around aimlessly through the hot landscape of the desert. Ryoga wasn't complaining about the wilderness, it just seemed to him that this orc-person didn't seem to have any clue what she wanted to do. One time, she was monologizing about heading to a big city called Orgrimmar, then she babbled about having heard something about ruthless harpies that attacked travellers, which she had to stop.

They never ran into a single one of them.

"Well, we sure had fun together, isn't that right, little piggy?" Gorsha grinned as she cuddled Ryoga close to her. "But everything has to come to an end... and thus, we are going to meet at the Crossroads, with a VERY good friend of mine. You'll like her... she's called Cliffdancer, and with her around, I always feel much more secure." She giggled. "You know, people say that I tend to aimlessly wander around when left alone, and that I'm not able to accomplish anything on my own... weird, huh?"

Ryoga had a good idea that he wasn't the first one who got annoyed by the strange behavior of the orc-huntress.

He gave Bristly, the big, wild boar that Gorsha had captured shortly after him, a pleading look, but the black pig just snorted as if it wanted to say: 'Hey, don't look at me, I'm in the same boat.'

"Hey, look at that, piggys!" Gorsha suddenly shouted as she came to a stop. They were standing close to a primitive-looking, but efficient bridge that was spanning a gentle river that was flowing through the otherwise barren landscape.

"This is Southfury River," the huntress smiled. "Across this bridge lies the big city of Orgrimmar."

'Yeah, I know that, you dimwit...' Ryoga thought. 'You said it the last time we crossed it while getting here from the barrens... I'm just glad that crocolisk didn't eat me.'

"You know, I heard that huge lizards known as crocolisks are living in this river," Gorsha suddenly said. "They say that the Tauren like to take their skin to make bags out of it... you think I should skin a few and bring the skins to Cliffdancer? I'm sure she'd like that..."

Ryoga facefaulted. Now he was sure of it: That woman was suffering from a bad case of short-term memory. There was no other explanation for it... She just COULDN'T have forgotten how the crocolisks nearly bit her in the butt the last time they crossed the river.

"I got it!" Gorsha grinned. "I'm gonna skin a few of those big lizards and bring the skins to Cliffdancer... she'll be SO happy!" And she jumped off the bridge, into the water... taking Ryoga along with her.

"BWEEEEEE!"

Bristly looked over the edge of the bridge and shook his black snout with a grunt. He pitied the poor little guy who had even more to endure than him... at least that orc didn't force HIM to be carried around like that. But then again, the little kid didn't look like he'd be able to defend himself on his own...

* * *

Nabiki panted heavily as she leaned against the wooden palisade that surrounded the Horde outpost. "Finally..." she sighed. "The Crossroads... maybe I can finally get rid of this Sunfish here."

She approached the big gate, feeling tired. She had never been physically fit as her younger sister, and the distance between Ratchet and the Crossroads was definitely bigger than she had thought.

The Orc grunts that were guarding the gates reached for their axes when they saw Nabiki. "Human!" they shouted.

"I'm from Ratchet," Nabiki sighed, not even looking up at them while she pulled out the Steamwheedle Cartel pass of Neutrality that Gazlowe had given her.

It was amazing how much power a tiny piece of paper had over people, even here on this fantasy world. The grunts just took a look, nodded and let Nabiki pass.

The middle Tendo sister let her gaze sweep across the biggest settlement in the Barrens. While she had already met quite a few interesting faces in Ratchet, this place was much more busy. And she was the only human around... she saw the green-skinned orcs, the tall and lanky trolls, the towering Tauren and even a couple of Undead and Elves... Blood Elves, as Gazlowe had told her.

"There just HAS to be one person in here that is willing to pay a fair price for a fresh Sunfish," Nabiki muttered. She was aware of the frowns and disgruntled looks the people were giving her, but she wasn't called the 'Ice Queen of Furinkan' for nothing. She simply ignored the looks and walked at the biggest building, which had to be the inn.

When she entered, a broad-shouldered Troll bumped her shoulder on the way outside.

"Hey, watch it!" she shouted.

The Troll grinned. "Sorry 'bot dat, mon... can't help it if yer so fat!"

Nabiki fumed. Fat? For a resident of Nerima who did NOT practice any form of martial arts, she was quite proud of her figure, and she knew it was just her reputation that stopped the boys from Furinkan from asking her out on a date.

"At least I can walk through a door without getting my tusks entangled in the door frame..." she muttered, certain that the Troll was far enough away to not hear it.

She was wrong. The blue-skinned creature's long ears perked up and he turned around with a hostile sneer on his face. "Care to repeat dat, mon?" he snarled and pulled a hand axe from his belt.

Nabiki gulped and took a step back inside. "Please, let's just forget everything and go separate ways..."

"I don't think so..." the Troll grinned. "I don't like if da humies think dey can get away with everything..."

"H-hey, I have a pass of Neutrality!" Nabiki shouted.

The Troll ignored it.

"Hey, take it outside!" the innkeeper, a grey-furred Tauren, spoke up. "No duels in my tavern."

"Oh, we'll keep it short," the Troll snickered. He licked the side of his axe as he came even closer.

'Just great, Nabiki...' she thought to herself. 'You just got yourself into a situation where your money and reputation won't do you any good...'

But just before the Troll could take another step, a heavy hand with stubby hoof-fingers was put upon his shoulder.

The troublemaker looked over his shoulder in annoyance. "Hey, what gives?"

The female was a literal cow... but she looked imposing, even for Tauren standards. She was as big as most males were and had thick, muscular arms and feet. An even bigger hand axe than that of the Troll was dangling from her belt, but she didn't need it... her fist was just as impressive. And if that wasn't enough, she was also carrying the biggest firearm Nabiki had ever seen on her back.

"Leave the human alone!" she said in a deep voice.

A tiny voice inside the Troll's brain told him that he should just quietly leave, but he was stubborn enough to ignore it. "You take care of your own business, Tauren!" he shouted. "Dis is between me and the humie, and no mojo-ridden milk cow is gonna..."

SMACK!

Both Nabiki and the innkeeper winced. One firm blow of the female Tauren's fist was enough to send the Troll flying... right out of the inn, and into the drinking trough of the riding wolves.

Nabiki whistled. "Not bad! That's quite a punch you're packing!"

The Tauren snorted. "People like him are the reason why the Horde and the Alliance are still not working together... and on top of that, he's stupid enough to ignore a Pass of Neutrality from the Steamwheedle Cartel. I actually might have done a favor to him..."

"Yeah, I don't think he'd want to know what Gazlowe and his buddies might have done to him if he had touched me," Nabiki smirked. "Thanks for the help! I'm Nabiki Tendo, new in town!"

The Tauren shook Nabiki's hand. Nabiki gulped when she saw how her own hand vanished in the massive paw of the cow-woman.

"I'm Cliffdancer," she said and gave Nabiki a small smile. "The Barrens are my hunting grounds. I am curious... what kind of business does a human of your age have with the Goblins? The only humans I've seen near Gazlowe's office were emissaries from the Alliance... and I don't think Stormwind would send a girl as young as you. No offense!"

"None taken!" Nabiki replied. "And there's a good reason for why I'm in his favor: I just happen to know him ever since I was a little kid!"

"Sounds like an intriguing story," Cliffdancer said. She pulled up a couple of chairs. "Care to share your story over a drink? I'm paying!"

Nabiki hesitated. She still had to sell her Sunfish, but... should she reject the offer for a free drink? Besides, she could use a break... the journey through the Barrens had been a long one, even though she had stayed on the road.

So she sat down and crossed her legs. "Sounds good to me!" she grinned.

* * *

Later on, the two females were still sitting in the tavern, enjoying their drinks (and no, they were not stupid enough to get themselves drunk), and laughing at the top of their lungs.

"And Kuno actually thought that I was interested in him," Nabiki giggled. "The only thing I was interested in was his money, but he had always been a blockhead..."

"Hahahah, who knew humans knew such amusing stories?" Cliffdancer snorted. "I haven't laughed this much ever since I heard the story of the Gnome and the Goblin that were discussing Elven politics... but you must forgive me, but your story sounds a bit unbelievable. The only other world I have ever heard of is Outland... and I know enough about the portals leading there to be sure that they don't just pull people on the other side forcefully."

"Well, but here I am," Nabiki shrugged. "So I better make the best out of it... so, what do you say? You think there's someone here who would want to buy this Sunfish?"

"Sorry, but I think dear old Gazlowe pulled your leg," Cliffdancer chuckled. "No one around here likes fish... and in this heat, can you blame them? The fish would go bad in a couple of days, and I think it's pretty obvious that all the ice that is used to cool it would melt within a few hours."

Nabiki looked down into the small chest in which the fish was lying. It was now floating in a puddle of water that was quite warm... the ice must have melted halfway during her trip through the barrens.

'Figures... dear old Gazlowe-sensei must have predicted that I would make this mistake. And as far as I know him, he's already on his way to a better place to sell his own fish...'

"I guess you're going to lose this bet," Cliffdancer shrugged as she took another sip of her mug.

"Yeah, probably..." Nabiki sighed. She shuddered. She certainly wasn't looking forward to another stroll through Booty Bay in a pink sundress.

Suddenly, another broad-shouldered figure entered the inn. "CLIFFY!" she shouted. "Oh, I missed you, I missed you!"

Cliffdancer smiled when the orc-woman embraced her with a hug that would have crushed everyone else's ribcage. "Hey, Gorsha... looks like you made it in time. I'm impressed, though... you haven't forgotten that we wanted to meet here, today."

"What?" Gorsha looked surprised. "That was today? Really?"

The Tauren sighed. "Nevermind... say, you look wet. What happened?"

Gorsha grinned. "Oh, I must have fallen in the river... and look, I took out a few crocolisks and I brought you their skin... you Tauren love crocolisk skins, don't you? At least you told me so when you gave me this bag last month..."

"Gorsha... that bag was made of Kodo leather! Not crocolisk skin!"

The orc blinked. "Are you ABSOLUTELY sure?"

"Yes, I am!"

"Oh, too bad... oh well, maybe I can make a nice collar for my newest pet out of this stuff..." She reached into her bag and pulled out a small, black piglet. "He just looks like my bigger pet, Bristly, but much smaller! Isn't he cute?"

Ryoga's eyes widened when he saw Akane's sister.

Nabiki blinked. "I think I've seen this pig before."

"You did?" Gorsha asked. "Oh, but I've been hoping to keep him... he's just too adorable!" And she squeezed the little piglet to her bosom.

Ryoga gave Nabiki a pleading look while he was crushed between a pair of green globes.

"I really shouldn't do this..." Nabiki mumbled to herself, but she knew that she had already lost her bet... she would never find someone who'd buy her Sunfish here at the Crossroads. "Here, you can have this fish if you give me the pig."

"A fish?" Gorsha's face lit up. "Oh, fish is my absolute favorite food! How'd you know? You are such a kind human..."

Nabiki nervously stepped back when Gorsha tried to give her another hug. "Um, that won't be necessary. All I want is the pig."

"Oh, sure!" Gorsha smiled as she accepted the chest with the warm Sunfish and gave the black, little piglet to Nabiki. "Yum, yum!" she said as she took a bit bite from the warm fish.

"I think I will never understand how you can eat warm fish in this heat..." Cliffdancer grumbled.

"Excuse me for a moment..." Nabiki said as she hastened over to the innkeeper.

"You know, you owe me for this, Hibiki!" she told the pig she was carrying.

She then asked the innkeeper: "I'm sorry, good sir, but could I have some hot water?"

* * *

Author's Note:

Cliffdancer is the third of my four Warcraft characters I'm going to include in this story, a Tauren Hunter. She has a long story with Gorsha, who is the main character of a friend of mine. And no, my friend's memory is not nearly as bad as Gorsha's, even though I like to say that.


	15. Akane's Wyrm

The blue dragon Cyan groaned as he slowly sunk down to the ground. His wings were tired, and it wasn't that much farther until he was home... but he couldn't face Malygos until he came up with a good excuse. So now he was crouching in the middle of a frozen valley in the middle of Northrend, trying to come up with a good apology.

"Umm... 'I'm sorry, your Greatness, but the Dimensional Seal was dropped in a deep chasm... by a bunch of Kobolds'." He shook his head. "Nonono, not even I would be so stupid as to believe such a silly excuse... well, what else... maybe... 'I wasn't able to bring the Dimensional Seal back home, because a group of gnomes were using it... to empower their newest anti-gravitation device for sheep.' Gah, that's even worse than the first one!" He gave his huge, scaly head a few hard taps with his paw. "Think, you stupid dragon, think! Malygos is the Dragon Aspect of Magic... one of the most intelligent beings on Azeroth! He won't fall for stupid excuses like that!" Cyan sighed deeply. "Maybe I really should just tell him the truth... all he's going to do is to make me eat my tail, nothing to worry about... Well, but... I really like my tail..."

Cyan felt like a young whelp who was caught being naughty by one of the elder drakes... but this was much worse than just having dropped a small, harmless artifact into a volcano crater... he managed to lose the Dimensional Seal, one of the most powerful and dangerous objects that Malygos had ever created. And he lost it to a ragtag group of outlaw Blood Elves... not only that, but he lost track of them, and only because he had to stop and chat with that cute little red dragon he met on Kalimdor...

He knew he was in trouble, and there was no way he could escape Malygos' wrath this time. The only thing he could hope for was that he was in a forgiving mood today...

"That would be the first time in 200 years..." Cyan grumbled. "I can't really blame him, though... because of my incompetence, all those humans from the foreign world have managed to come to Azeroth..."

While Cyan was lamenting his fate, he didn't notice that he was slowly being surrounded. And, to be honest, if he hadn't been in such a depressive mood lately, he would have remembered that this part of Northrend was currently controlled by the Lich King and his minions...

When Cyan noticed the undead Nerubian warriors, it was too late. Nets made of sticky spider web were flying through the air and entangled his majestic wings. Cyn let out a mighty roar and tried taking off from the ground, but it was no use, the Nerubian nets were glued all over his wings, making flight impossible for the proud dragon.

"Hold him down!" one of the Nerubians hissed in their ancient tongue. "The master will be pleased when we offer him this little present!"

Cyan angrily opened his mouth and spat a cloud of icy mist at the spider-beings. One Crypt Fiend got engulfed in the cold cloud, and his body froze solid. The others, however, quickly shot more spider web at his muzzle, tying it shut.

"Time to tuck this icy lizard in bed," one of the Crypt Fiends hissed with glee as he shot a tiny spike at Cyan's neck - a spike that was filled with sleep venom.

"N-nooo..." Cyan murmured as he felt the effects of the venom. They were making his movements sluggish and his eyelids heavy. "My lord Malygos... I failed you..."

With one last desperate move, he tried to pull away from the undead Nerubians, but it was to no avail. His heavy body collapsed on the frozen floor as the venom made him fall asleep.

Cackling maliciously, the Crypt Fiends proceeded to tie his whole body up with their webs, and afterwards, they pulled him through the frozen tundra of Northrend, to the citadel where their master was waiting for them.

* * *

When Cyan opened his eyes, he wasn't in the wilderness of Northrend anymore. He was in a circular arena, surrounded with hundreds of seats. The whole building he was in looked like a huge colosseum, made of black marble and volcanic glass. He saw tall spires on which grotesque gargoyles were sitting. The seats were occupied by all the intelligent creatures the Lich King had in his army: Banshees, Lichs, human Necromancers, Crypt Fiends and Crypt Lords, Shades, Wraiths and Death Knights. They were howling and laughing at the blue dragon that was crouching to their feet.

Cyan quickly realized that his wings were still tied up, and the Nerubian venom was still running through his veins, slowing down all of his movements. He knew that if all these monstrosities wanted his death, then he was doomed. He had heard enough about the arenas of the Scourge to know that no blue dragon who was brought to them had ever returned alive.

"Well, what are you waiting for, you monsters?" he grumbled. "Finish it already!"

He then noticed how someone else had entered the arena, through a huge archway that was directly in front of him. Compared to himself, that creature seemed tiny... but he knew that size didn't always match with the powers an individual on Azeroth had. And he could feel the dark energies that were flowing through this creature's body. She was dead, but it wasn't a natural death she died... she made a pact with the Lich King. Cyan was standing in front of one of the feared Death Knights. The only unusual thing about her was that instead of the usual runeblade, she was carrying a huge war hammer.

"So, this is the beast I'm supposed to slay?" she asked. "A dragon? Meh, he can't be worse than Herb..."

"Lady Akane," a booming voice shouted from up above. "Kill this dragon, and you will prove your powers and your right to fight at my side, as my personal bodyguard and new general of my army! And that's not all... kill this beast with the powers I offered you, and upon his defeat, bring him back so he can serve you!"

"I will never serve the Scourge!" Cyan roared.

Akane grinned when she saw how the weakened dragon tried to swipe at her. "We'll see..." she said as she raised her hammer.

* * *

The blue dragon let out one last, strangled gasp when the rune-covered war hammer of the Death Knight hit its mark for the last time. Then he fell down into the snow-covered arena floor, as dead as everything around him.

Akane came closer and put her armored foot down on the limp dragon snout. "Heh... even Herb would have put up a fight... this was just boring."

Triumphantly, she raised her hammer up into the sky, as the undead spectators cheered on the newest champion of the Lich King.

When the cheering was over, a dead silence hung upon the arena. Everyone stared down at the female Death Knight and the dark, armored figure that had come up behind her.

Akane turned around... and looked into the face of her king. She knelt down. "My lord..."

"Rise, Lady Akane!" the Lich King said in his two voices. "Today, you have proven your worth as a true general for the Scourge... and as my personal champion.

He spread his arms as he looked around the assembled undead. "Hear me, my minions and servants! From this day on, the word of the Lady Akane will be my word. Whenever she gives you an order, it will be as if I have given you the order myself. And when she is leading my dark troops all over Azeroth... it will be only in my name! Hear me now! Look upon this woman and tremble with fear! For she is the Lady Akane, the newest Death Knight and my champion!"

Akane couldn't help but grin when the crowd erupted in another bout of cheers. 'This... is what I always wanted. Accepted, respected... feared by everyone who looks at me! Back in Nerima, I was nobody... I never was as strong as Ranma, or my rivals... but now... now I have the power of the Lich King, the power to control the undead... and the power of a Death Knight! Now nobody will ever stop us! Oh yes, and as soon as Azeroth is ours... I will lead my troops into my own world, so that everyone will see that the Lady Akane is immortal! Yes... and they will join me in glorious undeath... my old friends... my father... and my sisters, too...'

* * *

A few hours later...

Akane and Arthas were standing next to a deep pit. Huge bones were sticking out of the deep, dark abyss, and the huge skull of a dragon was lying directly next to them. Ghouls and Shades were scrambling all around the pit, and Necromancers were standing at the edge, controlling the dark energies that were swirling around them.

"What is this place?" Akane wondered.

"This is a boneyard," the Lich King explained. "This is where I turn our most dangerous enemies into loyal servants..."

"So? And why bring me here?" Akane asked in an annoyed tone of voice. "Don't we have anything better to do than sightseeing?"

Arthas smiled behind his helmet. He knew that if anyone besides Akane had said these words, he would have destroyed that individual on the spot. "I brought you here... because I have a present for you."

"A present? For me?" Akane grinned. "Aww, you shouldn't have..."

"The dragon we captured today was killed by you in battle," Arthas said. "It is only fitting that this dragon will serve you from now on... be your mount and your personal pet. He will do whatever you tell him... the dark magic of my necromancers will bind his will to yours."

A horrible screech echoed forth from the dark abyss, a roar that would have made everyone else tremble with fear. Akane, however, could feel how the undead creature down below was calling out for her. "My very own, personal undead dragon..." she muttered. "I like that."

For Cyan, it was like waking from a nightmare... only to see that the nightmare had become reality. Gone were the azure scales that had once covered his body. Gone were his brilliant eyes, replaced by empty sockets that were burning with the cold magic that was his undead essence. The skeletal dragon came slowly crawling out of the Boneyard, revealing his unholy glory to Arthas, Akane and all the minions of the Scourge that were present.

"A new Frost Wyrm is born," Arthas shouted. "And he belongs only to you, Akane! The once proud blue drake called Cyan is now an undead servant of the Lich King's champion."

Akane smiled with satisfaction as she stepped in front of the skeletal creature. Cyan's eyes radiated the cold power he was now filled with. He felt his will crumble away as he stood in front of his new rider, the person that his will was bounded to by the dark magics of the necromancers.

He couldn't help but bow his giant skull in front of his new mistress. "What is your order... my lady?"

"My very own pet wyrm..." Akane smiled as she stroked the side of his skull. "I think I'm going to call you... W-chan!"

"As you wish, my mistress," the Frost Wyrm grumbled.

With one swift move, Akane was sitting on the undead dragon's back, just behind his skull, in front of his skeletal wings. "I think I'm going to take W-chan for a little flight," she told Arthas. "Don't wait with dinner..."

And with one powerful flap of his wings, the Frost Wyrm and his evil mistress were in the air, leaving the Lich King and Icecrown Citadel.

'She is an untamed individual...' Arthas thought to himself. 'And she will always be rebellious... but as long as she stays on my side, that's fine with me. She is my most powerful creation yet... and in the end, she will crush all my enemies. Oh yes, they will tremble whenever the name of Lady Akane is mentioned... no matter if they are part of the Alliance... or the Horde... and yes, even my dear old friend Sylvanas will have to pay for her treason... and the city of Lordaeron will belong to its one and rightful king!'


	16. Lady Akane, out of control

Ukyo kept her word and began to make Okonomiyaki for Tyrande's cadre of Sentinels. She was allowed to put up a small Okonomiyaki cart, right next to the entrance of the Temple of the Moon. She didn't bring any ingredients with her, but since Teldrassil was home to hundreds of different kinds of food, there was more than enough that Ukyo could work with.

"You know, the troops' morals have actually improved ever since you started cooking for them," Tyrande smirked as she stepped out of the temple, walking up to the busily working chef. "Are you sure you're not using any magical ingredients?"

"Nope, never needed any magic to whip up Okonomiyaki," Ukyo smirked. "You want one? This deer Okonomiyaki is about finished..."

"I... think I have some time for a snack," the Night Elven High Priestess smiled.

Suddenly, another Night Elf woman, clad in a Sentinel armor that seemed more impressive than what the usual guards around the temple were wearing, came running up to Tyrande. A heavily-armored man with a huge, two-handed sword strapped to his back was following her.

They came to a stop and the elf woman saluted in front of Tyrande, visibly out of breath. "Tyrande! Thank Elune that I managed to reach Teldrassil..."

"Shandris?" Tyrande wondered. "What are you doing here? You and your cadre were positioned in Feralas..."

"Yes, but... it's horrible... Feathermoon Stronghold... it was under attack!"

"Under attack? By whom?" Tyrande asked grimly.

"A... a Frost Wyrm, mylady! It came out of nowhere... it killed so many of our kind..."

"A Frost Wyrm?" Tyrande gasped. "How could a single Frost Wyrm have beaten a complete cadre of my most skilled Sentinels, lead by you, the Sentinel General?"

"It... it wasn't just any Frost Wyrm," Shandris explained. "It was gigantic... and on top... it had a rider..."

"Whoever could ride on a Frost Wyrm?" Tyrande wondered.

"Can't you imagine?" Shandris frowned. "It was a Death Knight of the Scourge!"

"Ah, yes... I should have known. But what interests could the Lich King have in our outpost? Then again, what Death Knight would attack a Night Elven outpost all by himself, with only a Frost Wyrm as a backup?"

"This Death Knight... wasn't like the others we've seen before, Tyrande," Shandris whispered. "At first, she was fighting from th back of her undead minion. But then, it seemed like this was beginning to bore her, and she jumped to the ground, engaging our Sentinels in direct combat. Not a single blade or arrow could pierce her armor... and our warriors fell under her war hammer like flies. The only reason why we were able to put up a fight was because this noble human warned us in time." She gestured over to the armored man who was standing behind her.

The warrior took off his helm, revealing a gruff face with a bushy mustache. "Halvar of Stormwind, my lady! I was in Kalimdor to support our allies in Theramore, and one of Lady Proudmoore's missions brought me to Feralas. I was told that there was a Night Elven outpost in the area, so I decided to head there. Before I reached the stronghold, however, I heard loud screams and roars coming out of the forest. When I decided to investigate, I could see a Tauren village that was attacked by an undead dragon and its rider." Halvar shuddered. "It was a massacre... the Tauren and their allies stood no chance against the feral beast and its dark mistress. Knowing that such creatures are only found in the service of the Scourge, I hurried to reach Feathermoon Stronghold, to warn the Sentinels."

"Of course, our scouts have already heard the commotion in the Tauren Camp Mojache," Shandris explained. "But none of them had actually seen the Frost Wyrm and the Death Knight. When we learned that they were heading in our direction, we were able to prepare ourselves for battle, Sir Halvar joining our side when the monster attacked... still, so many fell... we couldn't defeat it after all."

"At least you are still alive," Tyrande sighed. "Sir Halvar, I have to thank you for saving one of my best warriors and my trusted friend."

"In the service of the Alliance, my lady!" Halvar saluted. "But I worry about my fellow humans in Theramore..."

"I will send a messenger hippogryph to warn Jaina Proudmoore at once," Tyrande said. "Could you find out where they wanted to go next?"

"No, I'm sorry," Shandris said. "We were a bit busy with escaping... they didn't fly over our heas while we were heading north, though. If Teldrassil was their target, they would have already passed us."

"My mare is one of the fastest mounts the stables of Theramore had to offer," Halvar said. "But it can't keep up with a dragon... may it be alive or undead."

"I wonder what Arthas is up to..." Tyrande murmured. "I'm sorry, Ukyo, but it looks like I have to postpone this meal... we have to call for an emergency meeting. Looks like the Scourge is on the move again..."

"Is there any way I can help?" Ukyo asked, coming forth from behind her cart. "I told you I can fight." And she twirled around her battle spatula.

Halvar huffed. "I beg your pardon, young madam, but I'm afraid that we need more than the help of a cook."

"I'm not just a cook!" Ukyo said angrily. "I'm a martial artist! And I won't sit around doing nothing while Malfurion's people are under attack!"

Shandris suppressed a gasp. Where had that girl the gall to call the Arch Druid by his first name?

Tyrande thought about it. "You know, there is something you can do for me... and if you are willing to help, I would be glad if you assisted her on that task, Sir Halvar!" she said. "I'm sure Lady Proudmoore would have sent you on the same mission."

Halvar frowned. The High Priestess wanted him to travel with a common cook? Well, he had promised to serve the Alliance when he began his journey, so he would do what he was told.

"I will go wherever you send me, High Priestess!" he saluted. "For the Alliance!"

Ukyo frowned. "Shouldn't we ask first where she's going to send us?" she wondered.

"I don't know if a mere cook will ever understand this, but a warrior is always ready to fight for the glory of the kingdom he is serving... and for the glory of the Alliance, too!"

"The mission itself is an easy one," Tyrande said. "It's just that the journey will be long, and dangerous. And if the female Death Knight didn't come alone, it might be that agents of the Scourge might be wandering the forest of Ashenvale, and the Barrens."

"The Barrens?" Halvar frowned. "Where is our designation? What is our mission?"

Tyrande smiled. "I want you to travel to Orgrimmar and warn Warchief Thrall of the Scourge's presence on Kalimdor."

Ukyo just blinked at these news, but Halvar's gloved hand instinctively reached for his blade. "Do you... do you know what you are demanding?" he grumbled. "Orgrimmar is a Horde city. And not just any Horde city... it's the capital city of the Orcs!"

"I would advise you to keep your tongue in check when talking to the High Priestess of the Night Elves," Tyrande glowered at the warrior. "And the Orcs you are talking about were our allies in the Battle of Hyjal, against the Arch Demon Archimonde!"

"But that's ridiculous!" Halvar blurted out. "With all due respect, mylady, but do you think they will just let two humans wander into Orgrimmar? The Orcs do not trust the humans... many of them even hate us for what we did to their kind after the Second War. They would attack us on the spot if we only show up in front of Orgrimmar's gates..."

"Enough! See this?" She produced a small envelope out of nowhere. "This is a declaration of neutrality. Show this to any member of the Horde, and if they are loyal to Thrall, they won't attack you. It proves that you are going to Orgrimmar on my behalf, and the Warchief won't send you away. The Scourge is a threat to both the Alliance and the Horde, Halvar! The Death Knight Shandris described is a dangerous threat, and if we need the Orcs' help in this battle, I don't want to be unprepared."

"The royal army of Stormwind can take on any undead scum that is threatening our allies," Halvar proclaimed. "Just give me the word and I will inform our king, so we can prepare our ships and..."

"And when will they arrive?" Tyrande asked. "Stormwind is on another continent, warrior! I will send a message to Stormwind as well, of course, but I can't wait for their army when the Orcish capital is much closer. And may I remind you how long it took the army of Stormwind before they helped the population of Westfall against the Brotherhood of the Defias? And Westfall lies just West of Stormwind, as far as I can remember!"

Halvar seethed. In his eyes, the Night Elf woman's words were an insult to the kingdom, but he knew better than to talk back to the woman whose people had fought against a powerful Arch Demon. "As you wish..." he grumbled and put his helmet back on." He turned to face Ukyo. "I will be waiting for you in Rut'theran Village, at the harbor... but keep me waiting for too long, and I'll go by myself!"

Angrily, the human warrior turned around and stormed off.

Shandris sighed. "Don't be too upset with him, Tyrande. He is a brave and noble warrior and his actions today saved me and a couple of brave Sentinels... without him, we would be all dead by now. It's just that he, like many humans of Stormwind, can't let go of the past. In his eyes, the Orcs and their allies are still the savage brutes they fought in the Second War... and like all warriors, his thirst for glory is blinding him."

"I know, but I still hope I didn't make a mistake by sending him to Orgrimmar," Tyrande said. She turned to face Ukyo. "I will give you provisions and all the equipment you need for such a journey. You also should put on some armor... these clothes don't look like they grant you more protection than a robe."

Ukyo, who had seen Halvar's armor, scratched her head. "But such armor would be way too heavy for me. A martial artist needs to be flexible in battle..."

"At least try on some leather armor," Tyrande said. "Rogues need to be flexible in battle as well, and their armor still protects them better than any cloth armor would."

"Fine, I guess I can give it a try," Ukyo sighed. She still didn't like the idea of putting on leather pants like some sort of dominatrix. She liked her outfit, dammit!

Shandris accompanied her to the armory. "Um... while we're at it, have you considered arming yourself with something else? A cooking utensil is not the most effective weapon..."

Ukyo clutched her spatula to herself. "No, I will keep this!" she grumbled. "A spatula is a good weapon!"

Shandris sweatdropped. "Well, if you say so..."

* * *

Akane had a small smile on her face and twin rivets of blood running like tears down her cheeks as she looked down at the smouldering ruins of Feathermoon Stronghold. The whole island fortress was a desolate, scorched ruin with not a single living elf left on it, covered in a plague mist.

"It is a shame," she said, petting her Frost Wyrm's bony neck as they were hovering in the air above the island. "Why can't they understand I am helping them? These elves who have lost there immortality are now having it returned to them." As she said this, the first off the fallen seemed to twitch before emitting a silvery mist that formed itself into a shimmering spirit that gave a piercing howl. All across the island, screaming began as more and more Night Elves joined the banner of the Scourge.

Akane nudged her mount to fly down to her new army. The newly formed banshees gazed at their creator with undisguised loathing. With obvious forced compulsion one of them ground out: "What is your bidding, my mistress?"

Nodding her head, as if expecting the hostility, Akane asked a simple question in return "What is you name?"

Gritting ghostly teeth together, she said: "Arala Moonhowl, my lady, former second in command of this stronghold." "I see." The lich king's champion was quiet for several moments as more and more of the spectral spirits gathered around the grounded frost wyrm and rider. Finally lifting her head, Akane stared directly into the eyes of Arala. "Here are you orders..."

* * *

Arala was raging against the chains that bound her will to the Death Knight. She did not want to follow the commands of this monster that had slaughtered her people with such fury only minutes before. Recalling the frenzied battle that had taken place earlier she remembered how they had been caught unaware. Their priestesses had managed to control the outbreak, but then SHE had appeared. Like a valkriye of blood, Akane had dropped from the sky in their midst and had immeadiately began decimating the gathered troops with the unbelievably powerful blows of her war hammer. It had seemed as though each swing had felled multiple warriors, what blows they managed to land on Akane were ignored. However, eventually it appeared that the sentinels would prevail that day as they had managed to stagger the Death Knight with gaping, horrific wounds to her body. It was then the blood of the fallen moved. At first it had gone unnoticed but then the remaining warriors noticed the blood flowed toward their wounded foe, scaling up the harded saronite armor into the wounds, healing the flesh underneath to perfection and leaving no trace or mark of the wound.

It was then that Arala had seen her general directly join the battle against the unstoppable foe. No matter how many times she saw Shandris Feathermoon battle, it was always like poetry in motion. The general's moon glaive moved with grace and elegance compared to her opponent's wild and destructive strikes. Slowly, despite the greater power of the Death Knight, the centuries of experience forged in wars that had litteraly changed the face of Azeroth began to win out. Shandris danced around her opponent, slipping in and out of Akane's guard with ease, landing stike after strike, then slipping out Akane's reach again. The rage on the Death Knight's face was obvious as the sentinal general was unknowingly likened to a certain pig-tailed martial artist. The only reason the Scourge champion was still standing was the unnatural regeneration the blood of the fallen gave. Parting for a short break in combat, the two generals stood facing off against each other. Breathing heavily and slowing bringing her rage under a moderate amount of control, Akane spoke to her opponent: "I must admit, you have put up twice the fight the Tauren I freed earlier did. It's is a pity your kind will never understand the gift my master is giving to you."

"Freed? Gift? Child, you know not of what you speak. You and your master offer nothing but rot and slavery to the world!" Shadris shouted back.

Slowly shaking her head side to side, Akane responded: "We offer the freedoms the world needs. Freedom from death. Freedom from pain. Freedom from the divisions that plague the races of this lands. That is the gift my master offers. That is the gift I am offering to you now."

"Well, servant to the Frozen Throne, you may take your and your master's gift and freeze in the wastes with it. We have no desire for that which corrupts the nature of the world here."

"I see that you are incapable of understanding the value of what you are being given. As such, I will have to force my master's generosity upon you." Pressing her lips together, Akane let out a shrill whistle. Almost immediately, her call was answered by a deep resounding roar as her mount dove from the sky, blue fire swelling in its mouth. Coming into range, Cyan unleashed his destructive breath weapon on the off-guard sentinels, causing terrific casualities in his first pass. Leaping forward to dodge the stream of fire, Shandris staggered, not able to dodge Akane's swing. The blow connected solidly with the Night Elf, sending her flying back over 40 feet, before she came tumbling to a stop. Arala screamed at the sight and charged the Death Knight. Her acute hearing picked up the footsteps of her unit following in her wake. Raising her staff up high, she brought it down in a strong two-handed blow against her opponent. Akane caught the staff with one hand, then she swung her spiked hammer with her other hand into the foolish Night Elf's head, snaping her neck and flinging her away.

Slowly climbing to her feet, Shandris could only watch as her valient sentinels charged the Death Knight, trying to buy her time to recover with their lives. Overhead, the gigantic Frost Wyrm continued to blast the fortifications, ignoring the rather feeble return fire from the scattered and disorganized Night Elves. Drinking the sight in, Shandris cursed herself for not having expected the Death Knight to have some kind of backup. With the addition of the massive Frost Wyrm, she was no longer certain of her unit's ability to defeat the Lich King's champion. While she was fairly certain she could defeat the Death Knight in single combat, even with the regeneration the Frost Wyrm has taken out their air defense in its first pass and would continue to reap a deadly harvest that they could not counter.

With a grimance on her face, she reached into her tunic and pulled out a intricate wooden carving, snapping it in two. Akane at first thought it was a the heat of the flames playing a trick on her eyes when she saw some of the buildings move, but she quickly realized when the giant wooden treants advanced upon her, that she was not seeing things. As she skipped back, a wooden fist the size of a horse came slamming down where she has been. She then understood what the sentinel general was doing. The wisp-possessed buildings attacking her were incredibly slow, but they were not something she could defeat quickly or easily even with W-chan's help. In the meantime, the remaining troops would be gathering up the wounded and falling back in retreat. As she dodged another attack, Akane signaled for her companion to break off it's attack on the Night Elves to come to her aid agaist the ancients she faced. Watching the Night Elves summon their mounts and begin fleeing toward Auberdine, she sighed at the lost opportunity, then turned her attention to the task at hand: The enemies that were still attacking her.

* * *

"What are you saying?" The elderly, but still powerful Cairne Bloodhoof, Grand Chief of the Tauren, rose to his feet when the messenger arrived in his tent. "Camp Mojache has fallen?"

"Yeah, mon!" the messenger, a pale blue troll, said. "Da Tauren stood no chance, da undead dragon an' da female Death Knight slaughtered them all, including a good couple of my brothers. Bad mojo, I'm telling ya..."

"This is serious..." Cairne muttered while pacing back and forth inside his tent. "A single Death Knight that is powerful enough to destroy an entire camp..." He shook his head with sorrow. "I could hear the sorrowful cries of the nature spirits coming from Feralas, but didn't know what happened... the Lich King must have found a new champion..."

"The last time the Lich King chose a champion, it doomed the fate of thousands of living beings," said the druid Hamuul Runetotem, who stood next to his friend. "Sorrow and death for the humans of Lordaeron and the elves of Quel'thalas. And it heralded the arrival of the demons... if this is an omen, we need to be prepared what comes."

Cairne sighed. "For all those years, we Tauren have lived isolated from the rest of the world... we didn't bother the Night Elves, we defended us against the attacks of the Quillboars and the Centaurs... and we never visited the other continent, so we didn't even learn of the humans, dwarves and Orcs for a long time. Not until Thrall came..."

"My old friend, this is not the time to indulge oneself in memories," Hamuul said. "We need to take action. As a member of the Cenarion Circle of druids, I know that the Night Elves will back us up. And I would never question the loyalty you have to the young Orc Warchief... still, they need to be informed. If the Scourge plans a bigger attack on Kalimdor, we must stand united to defend our lands."

"May the Earthmother guide us..." Cairne muttered. He sent a quick prayer to the spirits of his ancestors, and the spirits of the earth.

Which was when a small, black piglet came running into his tent and around his legs.

"Aaaah, no, don't run in there, little piggy!"

"Ryoga, you idiot! She said the tent on the left side, not the right!"

"Stop, you can't just barge in there, that's the tent of..."

Cairne blinked in confusion when a muscular Orc woman and a young human female came running into his tent. The Orc woman stopped at once as soon as she saw him, causing the human to collide with her backside.

"Ow! Gorsha, why did you stop? Ryoga will get lost even more if we don't..."

"Nabiki... we're in the presence of High Chieftain Cairne!" the Orc huntress whispered.

"Wha-wha-whaaat?" Nabiki gulped as she stumbled backwards. "Um, that is... heheheh... sorry 'bout this... your beefyness..."

Hamuul frowned when he heard that title, but Cairne had to chuckle. "At ease, young ones! I can see that you stumbled in my tent by accident." He gently picked up the little piglet that had run into his leg and was now dizzily lying on its back. "So, does this little pet belong to any of you?"

When Ryoga was able to see more than the stars that were spinning around his little piggy head, he saw the gentle face of his old friend and mentor Cairne in front of him.

"Well, partly," Nabiki said. "I came here because my friend convinced me to go..."

"Great Chieftain!" a female Tauren huntress gasped as she appeared in the tent. "I apologize on behalf of my friends... we didn't mean to intrude..."

"Man, it's gettin' mighty cramped in dis tent..." the Troll messenger mumbled.

Cairne's eyes lit up and he smiled. "Aren't you the young Cliffdancer from my home village? My son Baine always speaks fondly of you..."

Cliffdancer hoped the Chief wouldn't see her blush beneath her fur. "Errr... that's too kind, really. But actually we came here because..."

Ryoga couldn't take it anymore. He squealed loudly to get Cairne's attention and waved his little trotters around frantically.

The chieftain looked down at the piglet he was holding. "My, he is an excitable little guy, isn't he? What's his name?"

"Ryoga..." Nabiki sighed. "Ryoga Hibiki."

"What kind of name is dat?" the Troll wondered.

Cairne blinked. He looked into the little piglet's eyes, and Ryoga looked right back at him. 'Please remember me,' Ryoga mentally pleaded. 'Please remember me...'

Cairne's muzzle was split with a broad smile when he recognized the yellow, spotted bandana that was around the pig's neck. He gently petted his head and said: "Welcome back... my young friend! It's been a long time..."

"Say, mon, does dat mean you've been friends with a PIG?"

"No, I can feel this is not his true form," Hamuul Runetotem spoke up. "A polymorph spell?"

"Close," Nabiki muttered. "A Jusenkyo curse. Pour some water over him and..."

Cairne nodded. "I see." He faced the messenger. "Bring me some hot water."

"Um... ya really think dis is da right time to be eating soup, mon?"

"Just do it!"

The Troll shrugged and left the tent.

"I think I will leave as well, old friend," Hamuul said. "I need to inform the Cenarion Circle about what happened." And he walked outside as well.

Cairne sat down on the floor of his tent, but his frame still towered over the form of Nabiki. He carefully put Ryoga down on the floor next to him. "Now, why don't you have a seat and tell me how you met my young disciple... and what exactly is a 'Jusenkyo' curse?"

* * *

Author's Note:

The scenes where Akane attacks the Night Elf outpost were written by fellow author Critic. The rest was written by me, Shritistrang.


	17. Azusa's pet

Author's Note:

For your information, parts of the last episode have been rewritten and expanded on popular request, mainly the part where Akane attacks the Night Elf camp. For those who haven't seen these changes yet, look back one episode to find out just what was changed.

* * *

Ranma used his spoon to poke around in his stew, the only edible food he had seen in days. The Forsaken were undead and saw no difference between ripe apples and worm-infested apples, or between oven-fresh bread or moldy bread. Their half-rotten digestive systems made no difference, and their sense of taste was simply non-existent. Their collaboration with the rest of the Horde was the only reason why they bothered at all to have food in Undercity that living beings could eat.

Three days he has been surrounded by nothing but death and undeath. He was sick of the darkness, the putrid smell and the disgusting green liquid in the channels flowing through the underground city. And no one was treating him with kindness, respect or even acceptance. The only link he had with his home world was Azusa. But staying close to a hyperactive, childish kleptomaniac for long would get on anyone's nerves after some time. He was fortunate enough that Azusa found enough 'interesting' stuff to keep her occupied...

Ranma had hoped that at least being with his old friend would be some kind of comfort, but the longer he stayed in Tirisfal, the more he realized just how much she had changed. There was no joy in her left, no pride, no cheerfulness... only the deep bitterness about her and her people's fate, paired with an insatiable thirst for revenge. She had allowed him to stay in Undercity as long as he wished, forbade anyone to lay a single hand on him and even made sure that he could make himself useful... but that was it. Ranma wasn't allowed to stay in her domicile, instead he had to sleep in a morbid alcove, in a moth-eaten hammock. The closeness to the Apothecarium was something else he was not too happy about. The constant smell of chemicals and foul brews in addition to the already smelly air in Undercity made him retch, and in the night, he believed to hear screams coming from inside the Apothecarium. It was enough to send chills down his spine, and he wondered just what kind of experiments Sylvana's followers were conducting.

After the first mission to fight back the Rothide Gnolls (which was no challenge at all for Ranma), Cadavrine became a constant companion on the missions he and Azusa had to do for Varimathras and his rogue guild. The undead warlock was not too happy about this arrangement, but she reluctantly admitted that Ranma was a powerful warrior. Regarding Azusa, well... she actually thought the same of her as anyone who met her did. However, there was one reason why Cadavrine had begun to accept Azusa's presence in their new team: The skater girl had begun to show signs of being a talented warlock herself.

As unbelievable as it might sound, Azusa had no problem at all to contact the beings of the void. And whenever she talked to a demon, they usually became surprisingly docile and well-spoken in her presence (with the exception of Varimathras, of course). Unlike most warlocks, Azusa did not enjoy the suffering and pain of others. Therefore, she had no real interest in learning Destruction spells. However, she was enthralled every time Cadavrine conjured up some chaotic flames... Ranma would never forget the stare the undead woman had given Azusa after the skater had told her: "That fire is sooo pretty! My Mom always used to light the old fireplace when I came for a visit for Christmas... can you teach me how to do that?"

And Azusa never needed the shards of souls to cast spells. Instead of using soul energy harvested from dying creatures, she used something entirely else. Still, not even the most powerful Forsaken warlocks could explain how she was doing it. In that regard, she had become a small celebrity among magic users in Undercity.

She was using Happiness Shards.

Cadavrine had no idea how she was producing them, but she was disgusted by the bright, cheerful pink of the crystals. And every time Azusa pulled one of them from a wild creature, the creature seemed to be much happier afterwards.

Nevertheless, Cadavrine was intrigued by Azusa's newfound abilities and was often found sitting next to the eternally smiling girl, debating with her. And even though Azusa couldn't understand half of the 'big words' Cadavrine was using when talking to her, she was happy to have found a new friend.

Ranma had no interest in learning anything from the Forsaken. There seemed to be no martial artists at all in the world. Ranma didn't seem to have any magical talent at all, so a secondary career as a mage, warlock or even shaman (if he'd be lucky to find a travelling Orc or Tauren who was willing to teach him) was out of the question, too. He didn't have the patience needed for shooting weapons... and the ways of the rogues were simply dishonorable to him. The only fighters he met in Undercity that had his respect were the warriors. Like the martial artists, they at least had a code of honor. Still, Ranma wasn't about to wear a heavy armor and use some sword or mace if his fists could do the job.

He had been happy to be back in Azeroth, no doubt about it. But never before had he been in this world for so long. He wondered why he couldn't simply go back home. Also, he was worried about Akane. Was she also back in Azeroth? Probably. But wouldn't that mean she was close to that former prince, Arthas? After hearing that this guy was responsible for everything that had happened to Lordaeron, to Quel'Thalas and to Sylvanas herself, Ranma knew that the first time he met the jerk, he would give him a piece of his mind.

He looked up from his soup when Azusa came skipping into the room, chipper as always. She was wearing a modified warlock's robe, even if Ranma had seen no warlock before whose robe was pink. And were those frills at the hem of her sleeves?

"How do you like it, René?" she asked as she twirled around. "Cada-chan asked one of her friends to make it for me. At first, she wanted to use that icky purple cloth, but I didn't want that, so I told them to make it pink!"

"That's nice," Ranma said, not really caring about it. "And the name's Ranma."

"But you wanna hear the best of it?" Azusa grinned. The only time Ranma had seen her this excited was when she had a small, black piglet she used to call 'Charlotte' on a short leash.

Poor Ryoga.

"I have a new friend!" Azusa shouted with joy. "Ta-daaa! Meet Jean-Paul!" And from behind the corner, a child-sized, black-skinned creature with little horns came hopping.

"Mistress is the nicest mistress Jen'po ever had," the imp said in a screeching voice. "I'm so happy..."

"Jean-Paul, I told you to call me Azusa-chan!" Azusa scolded the little demon.

The imp winced. "Sorry, mist... Azusa-chan! Jen'po forgot. Will try to remember..."

"Awww, isn't he just the CUTEST?" Azusa squealed, scooping up her new demon minion up in a massive hug. Jen'po didn't seem to mind the glomp in the least.

Just then, Cadavrine came walking in, followed by her Voidwalker Klathmon. She raised a half-rotten eyebrow when she saw how Azusa hugged her imp. Klathmon, however, gave the imp a glare that was full of disdain.

"Well, you seem to be in a good mood," Cadavrine then said. "Listen up, you two, we're about to receive new orders... and they will be from Lady Sylvanas herself!"

"Another new mission?" Ranma groaned. "Can't I eat up first?"

"When the Lady herself tells us to appear in front of her, we have to follow," the warlock said grimly. "And while you seem to have some past with her, you'd be well advised not to try her patience."

To be honest, Ranma was glad to have some sort of excuse not to eat the rest of the disgusting stew. There was no trace of the appetite he was so infamous for in Nerima.

A short while later, he, Cadavrine, Azusa and the two demon minions were once again standing in front of Sylvanas. Cadavrine gave her queen a respectful bow. Ranma had crossed his arms and was looking bored, while Azusa was still hugging her imp to her chest and happily hummed a little tune.

"So, what's the matter?" Ranma then asked. "Ya got another job?"

"Mind your mouth when you're standing in front of the queen, human!" Varimathras glowered.

Sylvanas gave both Ranma and the Dreadlord a frown, before she opened her mouth: "I called you here because I received only good reports from the missions you have returned from. However, on all these missions, you never had to leave Tirisfal. I think it is time to prove that you can also stand against the dangers outside of our safe haven. The minions of the Scourge you have fought up to now are nothing but small fries. But now, I want you to accompany me to another part of Lordaeron, where the Lich King has positioned his more powerful servants."

Cadavrine barely suppressed a gasp. Being the personal guard of the Banshee Queen was a great honor. "My lady, I am at your service!" she said with another bow.

"Well, it was about time to face a real challenge," Ranma smirked. "I really hope those goons can put up a better fight than the Rothide Gnolls. I'm not really worried about losing, though. Cuz Ranma Saotome..."

"...doesn't lose," came the monotone voices of Cadavrine, Sylvanas, Varimathras and all the guards and personal servants that were assembled in the royal chamber. By now, they all were used to that phrase, having heard it every time Ranma and his team were given a new assignment.

"Sounds like fun!" Azusa said cheerfully. "Where are we going?"

"Our spies have reported that the Scourge's troops in the Western Plaguelands seem to be in an uproar, especially in the area around the ruins of Andorhal, where the Scourge's School of Necromancy is situated. They usually only get that active whenever we or the Scarlet Crusade prepare to conduct a strike against the outposts and settlements under their control. However, Andorhal hasn't been of our interest for some time, and there was no sign of any clue that the Scarlet Crusade was preparing an attack on the ruined town. I haven't received word from any of our Horde allies that they have planned something."

"Maybe the Alliance is up to something," Varimathras remarked.

"Perhaps, but I want to know for sure. I want to take a closer look at the situation myself. From the reports of your missions, I know that you are more than capable enough to take on most of the undead in the Western Plaguelands, so you will accompany me.

Cadavrine was surprised. Whatever could have happened that made the queen leave the safety or her city just to investigate an enemy outpost when she could have easily sent a troop of her soldiers? But she didn't dare to protest and bowed her head again. "As you wish, my queen!"

Ranma didn't think it was strange that Sylvanas wanted to take part in the action, after all, sitting around in her throne room all day didn't exactly sound like a fun activity. No wonder she was bored and wanted to let out some steam.

Azusa was just happy to have more company. 'The more, the merrier,' as she always says. "Can Jean-Paul come too?" she asked.

Sylvanas raised an eyebrow and looked at Ranma. The pig-tailed boy inconspiciously pointed at the little imp that was squished in-between Azusa's breasts.

The queen of the Forsaken sweatdropped. "Yes, he can come with us," she groaned.

Azusa grinned from ear to ear. "Yay!"


	18. The paladin and the rogue

Ranma, Sylvanas, Cadavrine and Azusa were crouching behind some boulders that were close to the ruined city of Andorhal. They were now in the middle of the Western Plaguelands.

"I must admit, the beasties on our way here were a tad bit tougher than those in Tirisfal," Ranma said as he was peeking over a big rock. "But just a bit. So, where's that School of Necromancy?"

"Deep underneath the surface of the city," Sylvanas said. "I hope you're prepared for the worst... the warlocks who come from this place control the most vicious of undead creatures."

"Hey, there's nothin' I can't deal with," Ranma said, cracking his knuckles.

"Don't be so cocky, the elite guards of this city are of an entirely different caliber than the wimps we fought on our way here," Cadavrine admonished him. "My Lady, which path should we take? I think the main road is controlled by skeletal warlords, so..."

"I'm not afraid of any servant of the Scourge," Sylvanas glowered, putting a deadly arrow on her bow. "But I want to gather some information before barging in."

"Say, are those warlords smarter than those mindless skeletons we used to battle?" Ranma asked.

"Well, they are smart enough to lead the lesser skeletons in battle," Sylvanas explained.

Ranma grinned. "Great! That's what I wanted to hear! Be right back..." And with one swift motion, he leapt over the boulders and ran towards the ruined city."

"What... what is that idiot doing?" Cadavrine hissed. She groaned. "That's what he's always doing, my lady... he never listens to me..."

"That fool..." Sylvanas grumbled. "He can act carelessly in Tirisfal, when he's dealing with gnolls... but the undead guardians of Andorhal are a different matter altogether."

"Do you... do you suppose he won't make it?" Cadavrine asked.

"I don't know," the banshee queen admitted. "I know he's a powerful warrior, but the undead raised by the warlocks of the School of Necromancy are among the most powerful ones in the Eastern Kingdoms. The only stronger ones I know of are those that are guarding the other school, the Scholomance..."

Azusa just smiled. "Oh, I'm sure he'll be fine."

Sylvanas wished she had the young girl's optimism. Sadly, she knew what the warlocks under Arthas' command were capable of. In a fair, one-on-one battle against one of those skeletal warlords, Ranma would have clearly won. But the way he was charging in without thinking first just had to attract the attention of other guards... and against a whole cadre of them, even he was powerless.

She never had seen Ranma fight against Saffron, however.

They waited for some time, but Ranma wouldn't return. Sylvanas was beginning to get worried that he might endanger their whole operation, but then they heard some noise coming from inside the city walls.

Just a couple of minutes later, Ranma came running back. He carried what looked like a dark bundle of clothes over his shoulder.

"Missed me?" he grinned and dropped the bundle to the ground. The bundle groaned. Sylvanas noticed that it was actually a human, a man clad in the dark robes of an acolyte of the Cult of the Damned.

"Those skeletons just didn't want to leave me in peace, so I had to use some of my stronger attacks," Ranma exclaimed proudly. "Too bad those guys are so fragile, though... All it took was one Moko Takabisha, and all that remained were a few piles of bone. Luckily, I found this guy coming down the street." He gestured down to the squirming acolyte. He tried to call for more help, so I just scooped him up and brought him here."

Sylvanas was surprised. She didn't know of many humans that could take on a whole squad of elite skeleton warriors and live to tell about it. And Ranma even fought them with his bare hands...

Not wanting to give it another thought, she strode up to the helpless man, who desperately tried to crawl away. She grabbed him by the cowl of his robe and violently pulled him up to her face. "Do you know who I am, worm?"

The acolyte's pale face paled even more. "Th-the... the queen of the Forsaken..."

"That's right, and if you want to live, you better answer to my questions!"

"I'm not afraid of death," the acolyte said in a singsong voice. "Death is just the gate to immortality... I'm not afraid of death..." It almost sounded like a holy sermon.

"You'll be begging for death when I'm finished with you!" Sylvanas hissed and shook him around. "Do you want to know what I can do to you?"

The acolyte gulped. He had heard a couple of stories about what Sylvanas Windrunner was capable of doing, and he didn't want to find out which of these tales were true and which weren't. As a loyal member of the Cult of the Damned, there wasn't much that could scare him... but even if he knew that, his shaky legs definitely didn't know.

His head slumped down in defeat. "What do you wish to know?" he whispered.

"There's been an attack on Andorhal some time ago. Tell me! Is it true that it was an Alliance group?"

"Yes," the acolyte glowered. "My masters used their dark magics and their most powerful servants to drive them off. Nothing can defeat us, for we are the servants of the Lich King... URK!" His head flailed around violently as Sylvanas shook him some more.

"I don't want to listen to your prattling!" she growled. "Is it true that the leader of the attack was a female High Elf?"

For a moment, the acolyte acted as if he didn't know what she was talking about. "What? But there are no High Elves left..."

"Don't try to take me for a fool!" Sylvanas hissed dangerously as she produced a dagger from her belt, holding it up to the acolyte's throat. "There ARE a few High Elves left."

Realizing that he couldn't lie to her, the acolyte decided to be truthful: "It's true... she was a devil on the battlefield. Our troops fell under her arrows, and nothing could stop her... only when we managed to capture one of her men, she decided to fall back."

"You caught one of them, huh?" Sylvanas muttered. "Thanks for the information, worm! And now... you've outlived your usefulness!" And she raised her dagger.

Her hand was being stopped by Ranma. The dagger fell to the ground. "Hey! He can't do anything anymore, can he? You don't have to kill him."

Salvanas wrestled her hand free and glared at the pig-tailed martial artists. "NEVER hinder me from doing anything again, Ranma! As the queen of the Forsaken, I have every right to punish those monsters. It's appropriate justice! You don't know them like I do, Ranma. They CAN'T be allowed to live!"

Neither of them had noticed that the acolyte had used Sylvanas' distraction to slowly sneak up on her.

"My lady, be careful!" Cadavrine shouted and prepared to shoot a bolt of shadow magic at the robed man. But it was too late. The acolyte reached for the dagger... and laughed maniacally.

"You fools!" he shouted. "You are powerless to stop the Scourge... and one day, even the Forsaken will realize that death is nothing but a salvation!" And with these words, he thrust the dagger into his own heart.

Azusa let out a little yelp.

Ranma was shocked when he saw how the dead body of the acolyte slumped down to the ground. Never before had he met a man who was so willing to take away his own life. And the madness in his eyes... compared to that, the antics of Kuno seemed almost sane.

He sighed, then looked at Sylvanas. "So... why did you ask him that?"

"I have my reasons, Ranma," she grumbled. "I don't see any need to explain myself to you. Just do what I'm telling you to do."

The more Ranma heard from her, the more he wished he was someplace else. For a moment, he wished that he was transported back to Nerima. And then he wondered if he should just leave Sylvanas alone and be on his way.

He shook his head. Even if Sylvanas wasn't his childhood buddy, he didn't want to abandon her. He knew there was something left of her, deep inside that rotten body and spirit. He just had to find it. Besides, he had no place to go to anyways. From all sides, Tirisfal was surrounded by lands that were plagued by the undead.

"So... we gonna save that guy, aren't we?" he asked, pointing at the ruined city.

"Idiot! Why should we take such risks?" Cadavrine snapped. "The queen did not give us any order, so we won't do it."

"Actually, that is not a bad idea at all," Sylvanas spoke up.

Cadavrine was surprised. "My lady?"

"I need to talk to that Alliance guy they imprisoned," Sylvanas said. "He knows something the minions of the Scourge can't tell us... and I'm going to make him talk!"

Ranma wanted to save whoever the Scourge had imprisoned in the School of Necromancy, true, but if Sylvanas decided to do anything to harm him, he would have to interfere again, no matter if she liked it or not.

He didn't know anything about that prisoner, that was for sure... but he was certain that he could not be as insane as the cultist who had just killed himself in front of their eyes.

* * *

Kasumi frowned as she leaned back against the dirty wall of her cell and looked around. "Oh my... this place certainly needs some dusting."

"If that's the only concern you got, girl..." her cell companion grumbled. It was a stout, but muscular dwarf with a long, bushy, red beard. "If ye ask me, those undead can't wait to slaughter us... and make us one of their own!"

Kasumi certainly did not like that idea. "And all I wanted to do was to take a ship to the other continent. You know, Kairi - that's my new friend - wanted to show me her hometown. Too bad our caravan got attacked by these... unfriendly beings on our way to Menethil Harbor."

"Menethil Harbor? They really wanted to take that route? Those idiots... I've told those blasted merchants again and again that the safest way to go to Kalimdor is to take a ship from Stormwind's harbor!" He then stroked his beard. "Still, this is alarming... undead troops, so far in the south? King Magni needs to learn about this." He sighed. "Too bad we're stuck here in this cell, eh?"

Kasumi smiled. "Oh, I'm sure Kairi's on her way to get me out of here. She may be a bit absent-minded, but she's always determined to do her best..." Yes, over the past few days that Kasumi had travelled with Kairi, she had learned to like the young, eager Night Elf druid.

"Why are ye travelling across the continent anyways?" the dwarf asked her. "Yer not looking like an adventurer..."

"Kairi promised she'd look out for me," Kasumi exclaimed. "Also, our caravan was guarded by two very friendly hunters."

"Two? Hunters?" The dwarf tousled his beard. "If they want to safely get through the wetlands, they need at least four capable fighters! And not just hunters, but sturdy warriors, or paladins, like myself!" With a groan, he sank down to the dirty floor of their cell. "By the light... those bloody merchants never learn..."

"Well, I'm sure they... did you hear that?" Kasumi suddenly asked. She walked up to the locked door of their cell and listened. "That noise... sounds like someone is fighting."

"Are ye sure, lass?" the dwarf asked as he got to his feet. He perked up his ears.

"Oh, I am quite sure," Kasumi nodded. After having lived in Nerima all her life long, she knew what a battle sounded like... even if the martial artists from her hometown rarely used armors or medieval weaponry.

"By Magni's beard, you're right," the dwarven paladin shouted. "Someone's attacking the School of Necromancy! Here's hoping that they're Alliance troops..."

"See, I told you we'd be freed soon," Kasumi smiled. "Up to now, Kairi has always kept her promises."

And soon enough, a limp body came flying came flying into the room and collided with the wall. With a groan, the unconscious form of the Scourge necromancers slid down to the floor.

Two figures then came running inside, one of them much smaller than the other.

"Did you need to make that much noise?" the smaller, almost child-sized figure grumbled. "Now they know we're here."

"Well, excuse me for having saved you," the elf druid standing next to the gnome girl huffed. "If I hadn't turned into a bear, that necromancer would have fried your butt." She looked into the cell and smiled when she saw her friend. "Kasumi! Boy, am I glad we found you. Oh, and there's another prisoner as well..."

"Kairi!" Kasumi shouted happily as she recognized her friend. "I knew you'd come!"

"Hey, I promised you I'd never leave you hanging, didn't I?" the Night Elf winked. She ran up to the cell door and shook it. "Dangit, it won't budge! And there's no key... maybe I should turn back into a bear and just smash my way through."

"Don't bother, lass," the paladin spoke up. "This is dwarven iron. Back when Andorhal was constructed, they received their raw material from Ironforge dwarves."

"Well, I can't just make iron bars disappear," Kairi complained.

"Step aside and let a professional do her job!" the female gnome that was accompanying Kairi said as she stepped up to the lock.

"Oh great, just what I need..." the paladin groaned. "Saved by a rouge..."

"Ya want to get out here? Then shut up and be thankful for my help!" She pulled out a few crooked lock picks and got to work.

Kasumi watched her with interest. "You are very skilled with these things," she noted. "Do you think you can get us out of here?"

The gnome girl grinned. "Sweetie, there's no lock on this continent that I can't pick. Stabby the Swift is the most cunning of them all!"

"Well, thanks for your help, and nice to meet you... Stabby-san. I am Kasumi Tendo, and this is... um..."

"Hartwig Stonehammer," the dwarf said in his gruff voice. "Knight of the Silver Hand."

"Great, everyone acquainted?" Stabby asked, rolling her eyes. "Because opening this lock isn't nearly as easy as it looks..."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Kasumi apologized. "I didn't want to bother you." She sighed. "Too bad my sister Akane's not here... what we now need is a bowl of the stew she made last weekend."

"What, you hungry?" Hartwig asked, raising a bushy eyebrow.

Kasumi smiled. "Oh, no, no... but using that stew, we could easily melt our way through the iron bars."

Hartwig sweatdropped. "I'm not asking..." he muttered.

The necromancer lying on the floor suddenly began to stir... only to fall back again when Kairi gave him a bop on his head with her staff. She nervously glanced to the door. "Hurry up, Stabby!" she shouted. "I think the guards are coming..."

"Just a moment, just a moment..." the rogue grimaced. "I'm nearly there... YES!" she exclaimed when the lock suddenly sprang open. "Oh yeah, who's the meanest gnome around? It's Stabby the Swift!"

"Get a move on, or else you'll be 'Stabby the Undead' in a few hours," Kairi hissed. She then saw a sturdy chest standing in a corner of the room and opened it. Pulling a huge war hammer out of it, she asked the dwarf: "Hey, is this yours?"

"Yeah, they disarmed me right after they threw me in that cell," Hartwig nodded as he took his weapon back. "The rest of my troop must have fled to the north... dangit, I should have never agreed to accompany General Windrunner's cadre..."

"Hey, you coming?" Kairi asked from the door. Hartwig looked up and saw that the others were already leaving.

"H-hey, wait for me!" he shouted.

* * *

Author's Notes:

I decided that at least one character from every playable race should be represented in this story, so I added the characters of Hartwig and Stabby. Stabby is my second-highest leveled character in WoW.


	19. Horde and Alliance

Ukyo uncomfortably shifted around while she was sitting on the back of the pack horse, right in the middle of all the bags with their provisions and other luggage. Compared to the noble steed Halvar was sitting on, riding ahead, clad in his heroic armor and a noble expression on his face, it was unterstandable that Ukyo felt like she was treated as a servant.

For the most time of their journey through Ashenvale and the Barrens, she barely managed to get any conversation of the warrior from Stormwind. The only few times he said something, it was something like 'Set up the fire!, or 'Take care of the horses!' or 'Polish my armor!'

Naturally, Ukyo refused to act as the haughty nobleman's vassal. The one time she snapped and yelled at Halvar for being a jerk, he just turned his head and refused to look at her for the rest of the day.

How much Ukyo had wished that they would have at least attacked once during their journey to Durotar, so she could unwind a bit of her spent-up anger at some undead, wild beasts or other dangerous creatures. But they managed to get to the Southfury River without any interruption, except for that one time they had to dig their way underneath the barricade the Horde had put up between Ashenvale Forest and the Barrens.

"I don't get it!" Ukyo protested. "We're supposed to go to Orgrimmar as emissaries, right? We don't want any trouble. So why can't we just tell the guards of the Horde what we want and be on our way?"

"That's the reason why you are a mere chef," Halvar said grimly. "Leave the thinking to the warriors and tactitians. Those Horde guards attack any member of the Alliance without thinking. Did you take a close look at them? Those green brutes and their primitive, cow-like allies... they are savages, the whole lot of them! Incapable of having a single civilized thought! Now get a move on!"

Ever since that moment, Ukyo had decided not to talk to him anymore.

Sure, she knew nothing of the Orcs... but there had to be a reason why High Priestess Whisperwind trusted them, right? Sensei Furion always told her that Tyrande was the person on Azeroth he trusted the most. She couldn't be that wrong about the Orcs. And all the stories about how they worked together in the battle of Hyjal...

She almost rode past Halvar when he stopped his horse. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Why are we stopping?"

"We have to cross the river," the warrior explained. "It's shallow enough for our horses to wade through."

Ukyo looked to the South, where she could see a bridge, not too far away from them. "Um... why don't we go and cross the river there?" she asked.

"That kind of question can only be asked by a cook," Halvar huffed. Ukyo gritted her teeth. Noble warrior or not, the next time he says something like that again, she'd give him a taste of her spatula.

"The bridge is guarded by the Horde," Halvar said, not even looking at Ukyo while talking. "We can't risk being attacked by them now that we're almost at our destination."

"We have a letter from Lady Whisperwind, for heaven's sake!" Ukyo almost cried. "A letter of immunity! Why don't we just show them and..."

"Are you that naive?" Halvar shouted, glaring at her furiously. "Never trust an Orc! NEVER! They are just waiting for a chance to bury their tusks in your flesh!"

Ukyo raised an eyebrow and looked at the muscular-armor-clad man with worry. Was he slowly getting nuts... or did he have some secret reason for why he was hating the Horde, and especially the Orcs, so much?

Halvar gestured at the water. "Bring your horse on the other side!" he growled. "That's an ORDER!"

The okonomiyaki chef gritted her teeth. 'I promised I'd do anything to help Lady Whisperwind, but I don't know how long I can stand this. If that guy keeps this up when we've reached Orgrimmar... let's just hope the Orcs are not easily insulted...'

* * *

High up on the massive walls of Orgrimmar, two Orcs were engaged in a furious fist-fight.

"You looking at ME?" the Orc grunt on the left yelled at his companion. Not even giving the other Orc a chance to reply, he smacked his fist into his fellow grunt's face.

"What's the matter, Tark?" the other grunt growled while wiping his chin. "Is that the hardest you can hit? You no-good son of a human..."

"BASTARD!" the Orc called Tark shouted and swung his fist at him again.

"You stop that!" Shampoo shouted, as she suddenly appeared next to them. "Warchief Thrall no wants you to fight, he wants you to guard. You stop right now!"

Tark glowered at the purple-haired human that dared ordering him around. "I don't take any orders from a human! You pale-faced meddler..."

"Well then, would you take orders from ME, perhaps?" a deep voice behind them spoke up.

Tark and the grunt he was fighting with nervously turned around, recognizing the voice. "High... High Overlord Saurfang..." he stuttered. "I didn't mean to..."

"Yes, you did," Saurfang stated. "You boys know this lady is the personal friend of Drek'thar AND that the warchief assigned her as the new captain of the gate guards. And I expect you to listen to her orders as well as you would listen to mine."

"But..." the other grunt tried to protest. "She doesn't even wear armor. She's no WARRIOR!"

"Do I have to repeat myself, Gorrum?" Saurfang asked, narrowing his eyes.

Gorrum just gulped and wisely decided to stay silent for now.

Saurfang nodded. "Good. Now, back to your posts, both of you!"

Both Tark and Gorrum hurried to follow the High Overlord's instructions.

Saurfang sighed as he turned to face Shampoo. "I am sorry about this."

"Is no your fault," Shampoo said. "Shampoo has been around gate guards for several days. Now knows Tark and Gorrum pretty well. They no like humans, yes? Maybe Shampoo should do something else..."

"You wished to serve the Horde," Saurfang reminded her. "Drek'thar made sure that you'd be given a task befitting of your capabilities as a warrior. He told us all about you. And from what I have heard about your tribe, it is a tribe of proud warriors. Of course there are other jobs within Orgrimmar you could do, but... would you really want to clean the stables of the wolves?"

Shampoo saw a glint of amusement in the High Overlord's eyes, so she knew he was joking around with her, but she still sighed. "Maybe would be better. Orgrimmar no is good place for human, yes?"

Saurfang stepped next to her and let his gaze sweep across the rough land that was Durotar. "You know... that is exactly what the warchief is striving for. A united Azeroth, where the Horde and the Alliance work together against more dangerous threats... such as the Burning Legion, or the Scourge. In dire times, we managed to stand united... but he is worried that it could not happen again. So, we all must work together to make sure that at least here, in our new home, people become used to his idea. And what better way could be there than having a human ally within our city, working with us and teaching the young warriors about her own way of honor?"

"Maybe Shampoo not the right person to teach," the amazon muttered. If the few days she had spent in Orgrimmar had taught her one thing, it was that she could still learn a lot from the honor of the Orcs.

"Well, I think you..." Saurfang stopped himself in mid-sentence. He squinted his eyes and looked to the West.

"You see something, High Overlord?" Shampoo asked.

"I see two riders approaching Orgrimmar," Saurfang murmured. "Now this is peculiar..."

"Why?" Shampoo wondered.

Saurfang gestured down at the dust-covered hills. "Because it never happens that two humans show up in front of our city gates, without any sort of entourage."

Shampoo took a closer look, and then her eyes widened. "Isn't that...?"

Down below, the two horses slowed their pace as they came closer to the gates. The two grunts guarding the front gate lowered their axes and glowered at the humans.

Ukyo decided that getting on the good side of the Orcs from the very beginning was a good idea, so she smiled as she searched for the declaration of neutrality Tyrande had given to her. "Hey there! We're here on behalf of..."

"Be quiet!" Halvar growled. "Leave the talking to me, understand? You know nothing of the finesse of negotiations. You want to get us killed?"

Spurring his horse, he slowly rode forth and raised his right hand, shouting: "Listen, Orcs! I am Sir Halvar, emissary of the Alliance! In the name of the king of Stormwind, I demand to be let inside!"

Ukyo facepalmed. "Great going, Sir Moron!" she whispered. "Now who is getting who killed?"

Halvar did not hear her. "Did you not hear me, savage?" he shouted at the gate guards. "I'm here to talk to your uncivilized leader, so let me in!"

"Careful, human..." the gate guard growled. "If I were you, I'd choose a different tone when speaking of Warchief Thrall. I will give you one more try, and if you pick words that are befitting of our warchief, I might just let you live."

"Honorless brute!" Halvar hissed. "You dare threaten me?" And he drew his blade in a swift motion.

Realizing that the Orcs were only one step from attacking them both, Ukyo decided to intervene. She quickly jumped off her horse's back and ran in-between them, waving around the piece of paper. "No, wait! You got it all wrong! Please, excuse my friend... we're not here to cause any trouble. We're here on behalf of High Priestess Whisperwind of the Night Elves. Here, we even have a declaration of neutrality."

The grunt snatched the tiny piece of paper out of Ukyo's hand and carefully studied it, while his fellow guard kept an eye on Halvar.

"Well, I guess I should let you in," the grunt then grimaced. "But there's still the matter of the insults your friend threw in our faces."

"Lower your weapons, guards!" the calm voice of the High Overlord said as he appeared behind them. "And let me talk to them."

With respect, the grunts made way. Saurfang narrowed his eyes while looking at Halvar. "And I would advise you to sheath your blade, warrior, or I cannot ensure your safety within our city."

"But it away already!" Ukyo hissed. "Don't you see they're only acting like this because you insulted them?"

For a moment, Halvar did not react to Ukyo's words at all. He and Saurfang seemed to fight an unseen fight with their eyes. But after a while, even the proud noble of Stormwind grew nervous under the High Overlord's glare.

In the end, he sheathed his sword. "Very well... take us to your warchief!"

Saurfang nodded. "A wise choice, noble warrior! I recognize your tabard. You are a member of the guild 'Dark Glory', are you not?"

Halvar's eyes widened in surprise. "You know of us?"

Saurfang chuckled. "We know of most guilds that have managed to acquire at least a bit of fame. I had the honor of meeting your guild master once... and even though he wasn't a noble, he was much more courtly than you, I might add."

Halvar was about to reply something, but maybe it was for the best that Shampoo chose this moment to make her appearance. "Spatula girl?"

Now Ukyo's eyes looked like they were ready to pop out of their sockets. "Shampoo?" she blurted out. "What are YOU doing here? And... what are you WEARING?"

"Oh, this?" Shampoo smiled as she looked down at the light leather armor with the Warsong emblem on it. "This is present of Warchief Thrall, for honorary member of the Horde, Shampoo. But you no are wearing your usual outfit either, yes?"

"W-well... this outfit is from the armory of the Silverwing Sentinels... but... why are you in Azeroth at all?"

"While I'm sure you have a lot to discuss, can't we continue this conversation inside?" Saurfang intervened. "I'm sure the warchief would love to hear what news you bring from Darnassus... it certainly doesn't happen every day that two members of the Alliance just come for a visit like this."

Ukyo wanted to say that she wasn't really part of the Alliance, but the heavily armored Orc didn't give her much time to speak. "But before you go, can you tell me the name of your friend, Shampoo?"

"She is spatula girl... I mean, Ukyo Kuonji," Shampoo muttered. "And she NOT Shampoo's friend!"

* * *

Author's Note:

'Dark Glory' (or rather 'Dunkler Ruhm', the German translation of it) is my new guild. I just joined it a week ago with my four Alliance characters. This is the first time ever I joined a WoW guild. In future episodes, expect a couple of cameo appearances of my fellow guild members. I will also post this story (translated to German) on my guild's homepage.


	20. Rattlegore

Author's Note:

Thanks to firelordleg who pointed out that Akane did have, indeed, a rune HAMMER instead of a blade. Thus, I reuploaded this chapter, corrected.

* * *

With a disgusted snort, Akane threw the heavy body of the centaur to the dusty ground, where it twitched for a moment, then became limp.

"That's it?" the female death knight huffed as she let her gaze sweep across the destroyed centaur settlement. "That's all what those beasts are capable of? Pathetic... the Night Elves and Tauren at least put up some resistance..."

She walked past the destroyed huts and gave one or two lifeless centaur bodies a kick with her metal boots. "Feh, I wouldn't be surprised if I'd been able to beat those weaklings back when I was a normal mortal..."

Her great Frost Wyrm landed next to her, making the dusty ground of Desolace shake. During their attack on the unsuspecting centaur village, he had merely assisted his mistress by catching all centaurs that had tried to flee or inform or inform the other centaur tribes that were native to this wasteland. All the centaurs that had faced Akane in combat were slain by the deadly blade and dark powers of the death knight herself.

She was disappointed. "How boring..." she muttered.

"Mistress..." Cyan spoke up, trying to get her attention.

She ignored him. Angrily, she pulled the corpse of a female centaur druid up to her face and shook it furiously. "What good are you stinking mules if you don't even fight back? This fight was supposed to be FUN!"

"Mistress!" Cyan said again. This time, she threw him an angry glare. "WHAT?"

The frost wyrm winced. He could tell she was in a bad mood. "Beg your pardon, mistress... but I just received a message from the Plaguelands on the eastern continent..."

Akane narrowed her blue, glowing eyes. "Since when are you a telepath? Or are you telling me they sent you an SMS?"

Cyan looked at her in confusion. "No, I mean... it was a magical message, mistress. And it is urgent. The Scholomance... the Scourge's school of Necromancy in the Western Plaguelands... it is under attack! The necromancers can't deal with the problem by themselves, so they requested assistance..."

"So, did they?" Akane snorted. "Who are they fighting?"

"Apparently, there are two factions that have assigned troops to infiltrate the Scholomance. A small cadre of Alliance warriors, who are obviously trying to save the prisoners from within the school's dungeons, and... also a band of Forsaken."

"Oh, really? Arthas told me about them... they're those renegade undead that defied him and took the Undercity, that was supposed to be the capital of his dark realm, from him, right? Well, I just hope they will put up more of a fight than these horse-things."

"So that means..."

Akane grinned as she sat up on the undead dragon's back. "Yup, I'm gonna kick some Forsaken tail! To the skies, Cyan! Up, up and away!"

* * *

"Onward, brothers! Drive the invaders away! Go, undead minions! Rend their flesh from their bones!"

With those or similar battlecries, the teaching necromancers of Scholomance encouraged their acolytes and undead minions to charge into battle.

They were unprepared against the powers that faced them, though.

Cadavrine was formidable enough, an experienced warlock, even though she had not mastered her skills yet. Her spells and the attacks of her loyal Voidwalker reduced skeletons, ghouls and zombies to immobile corpses.

Azusa may not be as fearsome or dangerous on her own, but her imp familiar was more than ready to defend her. Also, her unusual way of using HAPPYNESS shards of all things to cast her spells befuddled more than one of the Scourge minions (at least those that still had enough of their minds intact to feel such a thing as astonishment).

Sylvanas was unstoppable. Her powers as a Dark Ranger were unmatched. Not one set of plagued claws or teeth managed to graze her dried up skin. Her arrows hit with deadly precision.

As for Ranma... well, the apathy he had felt during his stay in Undercity was gone. Even though he was in a dark, rotten place like the Scholomance, he had the chance to FIGHT, to freely unwind. These enemies felt no pain, were not really alive, and, most important: They were TOUGH! Ranma was able to use his most formidable techniques without the battle becoming boring and dull.

As much as this was possible in such a place and situation, Ranma was ENJOYING himself.

"Hey, Sylvanas!" he grinned. "Check this out!" He cupped his hand and focussed his ki. He then aimed at a charging group of necrofiends, undead nerubian troops that were stationed in the Scholomance.

"MOKO TAKABISHA!" he shouted, throwing the ball of focussed confidence at the spidery foes. They only had time to screech before the impact made them crumble to dust. Ranma then engaged a squad of skeleton guards in close combat. "KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!" he shouted as he pummeled their skulls and ribs, reducing them to tiny bone splinters in seconds.

This display made even Sylvanas raise an eyebrow. She had never personally seen Ranma in combat before. 'How... is he able to do this?' she wondered. 'That is not magic... at least no magic I have seen before. What kind of force does he use to do his so-called 'martial arts'? He doesn't use any arcane arts, he isn't attuned to nature or the elements like a druid or shaman, he doesn't use demonic or other dark magics... is he... some kind of paladin?'

But Ranma had never seemed to be the religious type before... and she never had heard him talk about the light or any deity before. Was this some kind of magic that was unknown on Azeroth? Unknown to even the Night Elves and the former Highborne?

"We're doing it, girls!" Ranma grinned confidently. "We're driving them back!"

"We have no time to waste," Sylvanas shouted. "We have to find the prisoners before the Scourge sends in new reinforcements."

"I can hear the sounds of battle from the lower level," Cadavrine spoke up, pointing down a stairway. More ghouls just came running up the stairs.

"Ooooh, more nasties come to play with Azusa," the pink-robed warlock-in-training giggled. "Time to have some fun... Happy Bolt!" And she shot a pink, spherical spell from her palms that struck the ghouls down. Cadavrine noticed that every single one of them seemed to have a happy grin on its face when they fell down to the floor.

She shook her head. What was she thinking? Ghouls were mindless creatures... they were not ABLE to feel happiness - or any other emotion, for that matter.

She still frowned at her young disciple. "Happy Bolt?"

"Well, it sounds much nicer than 'Shadowbolt', doesn't it?" Azusa giggled. She skipped over to the lifeless body of a Scourge necromancer and picked up his skull cap. "Antoine!" she shouted happily as she nuzzled its crooked horns.

Sylvanas decided to ignore the weirdness that the strange girl from Ranma's home dimension emitted. "Follow me!" she commanded as she went downstairs. Ranma and the other two followed her closely.

Meanwhile, Kasumi and her new friends had managed to fight their own way through the necromantic school, with the difference that they were searching for the exit.

"By the Light," grumbled Hartwig as he smashed skeleton skulls with his hammer. "These things just keep on coming."

"Quick!" Stabby shouted as she jumped on a Scholomance Necrolyte from behind, stabbing his neck with her daggers. "The exit's that way!" And she pointed to the stairway that was on the other side of the room.

"Oh my," Kasumi muttered as she waded through the bones and broken limbs of the undead her new allies had defeated. She held her nose. "Someone really need to clean this place up after this is over..."

"We made it!" Kairi shouted gleefully as they reached the stairs. "Sweet sunlight, here we come!"

"No, wait... I hear someone coming!" Hartwig grumbled, preparing a Judgement spell. "More undead will feel the wrath of the Light today..."

The others were on guard as well. Kasumi nervously stepped back, Stabby raised her daggers and Kairi shifted to her sleek cat form, baring her fangs.

They were unprepared for the happy, rosy face that appeared out of the darkness. A big smile appeared on the face of the girl that had just come down the stairs.

"Kitty!"

And only seconds later, Kairi found herself in a massive glomp, unable to escape the squeezing arms of Azusa Shiratori. "Eeee, you're just the CUTEST! I'll keep you and call you Madeleine and snuggle you and love you forever and ever..."

Cadavrine groaned as she appeared behind her. "Azusa... let her go. You don't know where that thing has been."

"More undead!" Hartwig growled. "Minions of the Scourge, now you are going to learn that a paladin never gives up!"

"Forsaken, actually!" Cadavrine frowned. "Really, why can people never tell the difference?"

"Makes no difference to me..." Hartwig grumbled. "You are all enemies to the Alliance..."

"You dwarves are as stubborn as the mountains you live in," came a cold voice out of the dark. A dark-cloaked figure slowly stepped forth. "And a paladin... tell me, dwarf, does your Light truly help you... when you are faced with true darkness?"

"A dark ranger!" Stabby gasped. Kairi would have gasped as well, only was she out of breath. It might have to do with the fact that a certain kleptomaniac was still squeezing her to death.

Hartwig, however, nearly dropped his hammer in surprise. He was the first one to truly recognize the dark figure. "Th-the... the Dark Lady herself... Sylvanas Windrunner!"

"You have two choices," Sylvanas whispered. "Either you follow me willingly to the surface, where you will tell me EVERYTHING about the leader of the Alliance group that attacked Andorhal some time ago. Or... I will take you by force and MAKE you tell me what I need to know."

"Gee, Sylvanas, d'ya need to have to do that? You're scaring the little guy," Ranma said as he stepped forth.

Hartwig was, again, surprised that a living human was apparently siding with the Forsaken, but the words of that young man sounded like an insult in his ears, and he was ready to give him a piece of his mind, when suddenly, the young woman he had been imprisoned with gasped and ran past him. "RANMA! Oh, Ranma-kun... you're here as well? Oh, I didn't... I didn't hope to meet anyone here I know. I thought I was the only one... are our families fine? Where's Akane? And our fathers, what about them?" She then sniffed. "Ranma-kun... you need a bath."

It was certainly a surprise for Ranma to finally meet someone else than Azusa who he knew from Nerima... but for now, his relief to see that Kasumi was fine was bigger than his surprise, and so he just smiled and said: "Nice to see ya too, Kasumi."

"You know this woman?" Cadavrine asked.

"Wait, I'm confused," Stabby said. "Is he a member of the Horde? Or the Alliance?"

"Neither," Kasumi smiled. "Everyone, this is Ranma Saotome, the fiance of my little sister, Akane..."

A loud roar made everyone in the room turn their heads and look at the large doorway that no one really had paid any attention to up to now. A colossal construct made of bones stepped into the room. And when the bone golem known as Rattlegore saw the living creatures in front of him, his primitive mind was filled with the only thing it could feel: Bloodlust!

"Save the introductions for later," Hartwig muttered. "We've got company!"

* * *

At the same time, an even bigger, undead creature was landing inside of Andorhal, directly in front of the entrance to the School of Necromancy.

The female Death Knight dismounted from her Frost Wyrm. Akane took a look at the scattered remains of the undead creatures that were lying around. "Well, well," she said. "Looks like someone was busy. And they even managed to get inside... they must have put up a good fight."

A satisfied grin appeared on her face as she took her glowing rune hammer. "Well then... time to have some fun!"


	21. A woman who was once my fiancee

The undead construct let out one final bellow, then it collapsed in a heap of bones.

Ranma wiped his brow. "Well," he said. "That takes care of that."

"Aye..." Hartwig grumbled while throwing an unpleasant glance towards Sylvanas and Cadavrine. "Now we have to deal with the other undead abominations in this room..."

"If you wish to die that badly, I will gladly grant your wish," Sylvanas whispered as she drew an arrow.

Cadavrine called Klathmon to her side and got ready to charge up a Shadowbolt. "Don't you dare lay your hands on Lady Sylvanas!" she hissed. The Voidwalker just growled.

"Oh my," Kasumi said, looking worried all of a sudden. "Why is everyone fighting each other?"

Not wanting to see the oldest Tendo sister unhappy, he stepped in-between the Forsaken and the Alliance members. "Hey, would you cut that out?" he asked, sounding annoyed. "We really got more important stuff to figure out than fighting each other."

"You in league with this Horde scum, boy?" the gnome rogue frowned as she raised her daggers.

"You leave Rene alone," Azusa commanded. "Azusa doesn't like bad people who bother her friends."

Kairi would have said something, but the druid-turned-nightsaber was still being strangled by Azusa's mighty glomp of doom. So all she could utter was a strangled meow.

By now, Kasumi had heard enough. She decided something had to be done, so she stood next to Ranma and used her father's favorite technique.

"Whaaaaah!" she cried, and the waterfalls began to flow. "I don't wanna see you fighting. Why can't everyone just get along with each other? Whaaaaah!"

Everyone looked at Kasumi in bewilderment. Most of the people present in the room felt a twinge of guilt that they had made this sweet girl cry. Hartwig coughed and bashfully stroked his beard. Cadavrine stopped charging her spell and sighed. Azusa instantly dropped Kairi and came to Kasumi's side. "Awww, don't cry," she said. "Everything's gonna be all right."

Kasumi sniffled a bit and wiped away a tear. "Th-thank you..."

But inwardly, she smiled. She knew learning father's special technique could come in handy at some point.

Only Sylvanas didn't look as if Kasumi's outburst had moved her in any way. "Well," she said, only lowering her bow slightly. "Are you willing to take us to your leader, paladin?"

Hartwig glanced at her for a moment. "Fine," he then said. "I suggest a truce until you have spoken to her... I think she would be interested to hear just why the queen of the Forsaken has personally come to lead an attack on this school of necromancy..."

Ranma grinned. "Great. Now that we're all pals, how about we leave this rotten place and find something to eat?"

Kasumi smiled, suddenly back to her usual, happy self. "That does sound good, Ranma-kun."

* * *

Just a short while afterwards, they all left the underground complex and were back at the surface, in the ruins of Andorhal.

And found themselves surrounded by a whole troop of undead.

Hartwig groaned. "I knew they wouldn't give up that easily..."

"Not a problem," Ranma smiled confidently and cracked his knuckles. "We beat them once, we can beat them again."

"I'm afraid it's not going to be that easy," a cold voice spoke up. Then they all saw him: The floating being that behind its troops, surrounded by a blue aura of cold and purple robes that did nothing to hide its skeletal frame.

"Araj the Summoner..." Sylvanas spat. "The leader of the Scourge in Andorhal..."

The lich looked at the assembled group with his eternal grin. "So, Lady Sylvanas, you come into my city, wreak havoc in my beloved school and believe you can just walk away like that without being punished?" He chuckled. "I think not. Your ruling days are over, Dark Ranger! I will bring your limp body to my master and receive my eternal reward..."

"Hey!" Ranma shouted as he stepped next to his old friend. "Ever heard that you don't pick on girls?"

Sylvanas glanced at Ranma with irritation, and Araj scratched the side of his skull in thought. "And who, pray tell, are you, mortal?"

"The name's Ranma Saotome!" he said and put his hands on his hips. "And if you touch Sylvanas, I'm gonna knock that tiny skull of your bony body."

The ghouls and skeletons surrounding Araj hissed and growled. It sounded like laughter. One motion of the lich's hand made them silent. "You are not worth my time, boy!" he said and raised a hand, creating a ball of frost magic that was hovering in his palm. "I will freeze the blood in your body and crack it like a walnut..."

Ranma didn't look too impressed. He took on his fighting stance. "Bring it on!"

"Are you insane, boy?" Hartwig grumbled. "Do you see the undead hordes that are surrounding him? Even if you somehow manage to beat a lich with your bare hands - which I doubt - you still can't fight against all these undead monsters all by yourself."

Ranma just smirked. "Ranma Saotome doesn't lose."

"It's your funeral..." Araj whispered as he got ready to fire his first Frostbolt at the young martial artist.

"STOP!!" a booming, commanding voice came down from the heavens, as something came swooping down on the scene, on wings of bone, like a living cyclone.

The massive Frost Wyrm landed in the middle of Andorhal with a load roar, burying the remains of a house and a dozen of hapless skeletons underneath his massive weight. A lithe figure, wearing armor as black as the night, came jumping down from its back. Her metal hammer was engrafted with glowing runes. She pointed it at the lich. "At the command of the Lich King himself, I order you to leave the human male to me!"

The lich looked at her in confusion. "Who are you, Death Knight?" he wanted to know. "How dare you give me commands in my own city?"

"I am the right hand of the Lich King and the new general of his armies in Northrend," she proclaimed, proudly putting her saronite glove to her breastplate, where the emblem of the Lich King himself was visible. "I am Lady Akane of Northrend!"

Ranma had never shuddered once in the presence of the lich and his frosty spells. Not even the spooky ambience of the Plaguelands, the ruined Andorhal and the halls of the school of necromancy had made him afraid.

But now he could feel is blood run cold.

He could not believe his eyes.

This creature... this woman with the black armor, the pale skin, and the glowing, blue eyes... this servant of the Scourge, which had ridden on a huge Frost Wyrm... was none other than his fiancee.

"Akane..." a voice behind him whispered. And then Kasumi let out a cry as she ran at her youngest sister, only to be held back by Hartwig's strong arms.

"Are you insane?" the dwarf asked her. "That's one of the Lich King's Death Knights!"

Kasumi shook her head again and again while tears came out of her eyes. She didn't really know herself if those wear tears of sadness of happiness. "But you don't understand..." she sobbed. "She is my sister... Akane! It's me, Kasumi!"

"Not any longer, lass..." Hartwig grimly said. "They turned her into one of their mindless puppets... don't you see the evil in her eyes?"

But Kasumi did not want to listen. "Akane, I'm here," she said again. "Now everything is going to be okay... we can go home, back to father and Nabiki..."

But then Akane looked at her... and it made Kasumi gasp with fright. This wasn't the gentle smile of her sister... not even the stubborn face when she was determined to overcome a challenge of the annoyed scowl when she was dealing with boys that were going on her nerves.

This grin was made of pure evil. It was full of dismay and hatred, and it was burning Kasumi's soul.

"You believed I would still be the same Akane you know, right?" she asked. "This weak waste of flesh I have been... no... I have... become something more. I am strong... I am powerful... mortals fear me... the cold winds are mine to command... the blood of my enemies is running through my hands... and I even control life and death. Yes, Kasumi, I am your sister, Akane... but at the same time, I am something new."

She smashed her rune hammer down on the withered ground of Andorhal and proclaimed proudly: "The whiny and weak schoolgirl Akane Tendo is dead... reborn, I am the new champion of the Lich King!"

"No..." Kasumi whispered as more tears were running down her face. "No, this isn't true... this isn't you..."

"You can't believe how this feels, Kasumi..." Akane chuckled. "This feeling... of absolute power... to carry out his will... and to do anything I like... Arthas is right, death is the only solution for any living being!"

"Well, sure, that's the same old crap we hear from any Death Knight... or any minion of the Scourge, for that matter..." Stabby grumbled, drawing her daggers. "What makes you so special?"

Akane didn't pay any attention to the gnome girl. She took a step forward. Under her feeth, the already dead ground blackened even more and was covered with a thin layer of ice, which was instantly shattered by her heavy saronite boots. "What do you say, sister?" she smiled. It was a cruel smile. "Don't you want to die as well? See what it did to me... see what power it gave to me... we could do anything. Together, at the Lich King's side, we would never have to fear death again, dear sister... doesn't that sound wonderful?"

"No!" Kasumi shouted. "That sounds horrible! My... my sister would have never suggested anything like that!"

"Is it about Nabiki and father?" Akane asked. "Would you miss them? Oh, but we can convert them as well... they will join the Scourge... and anyone else we know. We will be united forever, Kasumi... imagine!"

By now, Kasumi was shaking like a leaf. "No..." she sobbed again and again. Her legs gave away, and she dropped down to her knees. "No... please stop..."

"Kasumi..." Akane's voice had become a whisper by now. "Imagine... we could even bring back... mother..."

The scream of terror that was coming out of Kasumi's mouth wasn't really that loud... but it was full of pain, full of fear and full of sorrow at the monstrosity that her sister had become. It sounded so horrible and heart-braking that even Ranma was pulled out of his stupor.

He narrowed his eyes. "Akane, that's enough," he said in a calm voice without looking up.

Lady Akane tilted her head. "Pardon me? Did you say anything, Ranma?"

Ranma looked up at her, a glare of determination and anger. "That's enough!" he shouted. "What do you think you're doing? Can't you see how you're hurting Kasumi? Are you having fun doing that to her? What's gotten into you, Akane?"

"Death has gotten into me, Ranma," Akane grinned. "Death... and it is exhilarating."

"You can't be serious!" Ranma said. "Do you know what you're saying? Akane... we're your family! Not these monsters..."

"Family?" Akane frowned and let her gaze sweep across the assembled undead. "Oh, you mean these poor things? Those are just pitiful minions... puppets that are expandable, nothing more. Even that lich is nothing more than a pawn in a greater game..."

"Why, the nerve..." Araj grumbled.

"Game?" Ranma shouted. "Did you say game? This is not a joke, Akane... those people are dead!"

"Gee, what a surprise..." Akane rolled her eyes. "You really are dense, Ranma, if you think I didn't know that already... You know what? Even back in life, these people were nothing but scum. Weak cowards that deserved to be turned into this. As ghouls, they at least serve a purpose... what good are spineless wimps that are begging for their lives?"

"At least fight warriors that can fight back," Ranma told her. "Where's the honor in slaughtering innocents?"

"Oh, but I did fight warriors, Ranma," Akane explained. "Night Elves, Tauren, Centaurs... they were all weak. They all fell underneath by hammer and my dark powers. I killed them all, Ranma... they are dead. I did them a favor by ending their worthless lives..."

By now Akane's words had reduced Kasumi to a blubbering pile of sadness. Kairi and Azusa tried to soothe her, but no words seemed to reach the anguished girl.

Ranma tightened his fists. His arms were shaking. "All right, that's it... I dunno what those monsters did to you, Akane, but I won't let you do this anymore! You speak of death and killing as if it were a game... you laugh at people that never did anything to you... you are not a martial artist anymore!"

"Thank god I'm not," Akane spat. "Oh, did I say god? What I meant to say was: Thank ARTHAS!"

"GGYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" Ranma exploded in a torrent of anger and fury. He couldn't bear it any longer. Looking at this creature that had the face of Akane and was tormenting them... he just could not believe that this monster was actually the girl he loved. He couldn't listen to her anymore... so he jumped at her with all his power focussed in his fists."

"ATTACK!" Araj the Summoner thundered, and the next waves of undead came storming forth. The noble warriors of the Alliance and the Forsaken welcomed them with weapons and spells. The fight underneath the city was nothing against this clash of forces... even the huge Frost Wyrm joined the fray, circling over the battlefield and blasting everything with his deadly frost breath.

Sylvanas wanted to get a clear shot at either Araj or Akane, but with so many ghouls, skeletons, abominations and crypt fiends around, it was just impossible. So instead, she jumped up onto the remains of a collapsed wall and concentrated her fire on the circling wyrm.

Kairi, Stabby, Cadavrine, Azusa, Klathmon and Jen'po formed a protective circle around Kasumi, who still made no attempt to move or even react to their voices.

"This is not funny anymore," Azusa shouted, while shooting happy bolts everywhere. "Azusa wanna go home, back to her sweeties... oh no!" She realized that she had just ran out of mana.

"Oom!" she said. "Oom. Oom."

"Stop humming like a loon and focus on the battle!" Cadavrine shouted.

Akane and Ranma noticed nothing about the battle that was going on around them. All Ranma could see was the cruel grimace, this mockery of the girl he loved. And all Akane could focus on was the chance to finally beat Ranma.

"You will die, Ranma!" she shouted. "Die and rot away like a corpse!" She tried to hit him with her hammer, but he jumped over it and charged his ki.

"MOKO TAKABISHA!" he yelled and shot the energy bullet at her. Akane just winced as it hit her armor, not even denting it.

"Nice," she said. "Now it's my turn... HAAAAAAH!" She pointed her palm at him, and all of a sudden, icy winds came down on him, coating his arms with ice. It stung painfully, but Ranma shrugged it off.

He stormed at her again and attacked with a flurry of punches. "KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!"

Akane growled as she was pummeled in the face. Maybe she should have had brought her helmet..."

"You annoy me Ranma..." she muttered and her hands began to glow. Unholy energies were being focussed on her runic weapon, and it began to glow in a sickly, green light. "WITHER AWAY!"

"Is that all you got, Akane?" Ranma grimaced as he tried to block the hammer. He even succeeded.

But what he couldn't block was the green aura that was creeping down his arms... the disease every Death Knight was able to spread... using his PLAGUE STRIKE.

Ranma gasped in pain as the unholy plague wreaked havoc in his body. "What... what have you done... Akane?"

"Pain, Ranma..." she whispered. "Sweet pain... you will suffer before I finally release you. You will beg for mercy, and in the end, beg for your death... just like me... and then... you will become like me..."

She grinned and raised her weapon for the final blow.

But then, loud trumpets could be heard. Thundering hooves and loud footsteps were coming closer. Loud yells, whinnies of horses and screeches of gryphons were filling the air.

"For the Light!" shouted the leader of the troops that had suddenly appeared in Andorhal, cutting a path through the undead hordes.

"FOR THE LIGHT!" every human, dwarf and elf shouted back. Swords, maces, arcane magic, spells of light and gryphon talons tore through the rotten flesh of the ghouls and smashed the bones of the skeleton. Paladins, warriors, priests, mages and archers all entered the battlefield, determined to smite the Scourge in the name of the holy Light.

Araj the Summoner immediately realized that he had lost. "You haven't seen the last of me," he swore, before he vanished in a swirl of frost.

"It's Lady Vereesa and the Argent Dawn!" Hartwig yelled as strength and hope suddenly returned to his body. "We're saved!"

Sylvanas barely heard his yell as she had to dodge another lance of ice from Cyan. "Annoying wyrm..." she muttered. "Taste the deadly skills of a Dark Ran... ger..." It then dawned to her what the dwarf had just said. "What... did you say... Ve... Vereesa...?"

Akane lowered her hammer in annoyance. "Man, they sure know how to spoil my fun..." she grumbled. "CYAN!" The Frost Wyrm screeched and flapped his skinless wings once, landing directly in front of her, squashing another trio of skeletons. Akane jumped on his back and swore: "You're lucky this time, Ranma, but I swear: I'll be back and finish this some day!"

Ranma wanted to get up and stop her, but the plague that Akane's strike had put into his body was weakening him. "Ak... Akane..." he whispered... before he fell down to the ground and fainted.

* * *

The castle of Stormwind.

A royal guard clad in finest armor entered the throne room. Sitting in front of him, almost always bearing the royal armor of the king, sat Varian Wrynn, the wild, black hair falling down his back in an unruly ponytail, a cross-shaped scar visible on his serious face.

"Your Majesty," the guard saluted. "We just received a message from the Kirin Tor."

"Rhonin..." the king sighed and rubbed his temples. "What does he want now?"

"Well, it appears as if a small cadre of the Silver Covenant has joined the Argent Dawn in battling the undead in Andorhal."

"Odd..." Varian frowned. "Why would they send troops there while the battle against the Scourge in Northrend is still raging? We need all available troops up there... Rhonin knows that. Did that Elven woman meddle with his heart again?"

The guard was dumbfounded. As he didn't know what to reply, the king waved his hand. "Well, get on with it."

"W-well, it seems as if something of particular importance has happened in the school of necromancy below Andorhal... according to the letter of the Kirin Tor, some people have been kidnapped by the Scourge... people that need help."

"That happens often enough," Varian said. "And while I agree that it is always good to help victims of the undead, why send the Silver Covenant into the Plaguelands?"

"Well, they have been pretty vague about this... but apparently, it has to do with the new champion of the Lich King... and a magical artifact, some sort of orb..."

Varian frowned yet again. The letter from Theramore with the report about the female Death Knight that had wrecked countless settlements of Alliance, Horde and other, uninvolved factions, had arrived his court in the morning. Lady Tyrande Whisperwind herself had warned her allies in Stormwind about the danger, and Jaina Proudmoore of Theramore had added her own letter, reminding Varian that she, better than anyone else, knew how the most noble and powerful men could be corrupted into service of the Scourge. After all, Prince Arthas himself had once been her suitor...

"Send a messenger to Ironforge and inform King Bronzebeard that I'd like to have a talk with him tomorrow... we need to know what exactly it is that the Kirin Tor know and we don't know."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" the guard saluted and left the throne room.

Varian sighed and leaned back in his throne. 'Just what are you planning this time, Arthas?' he wondered. It didn't make any sense... if the Lich King had such a powerful warrior, why not use it in the battle in Northrend? Why let that female Death Knight attack helpless villages and military outposts that lie in the middle of nowhere? Was it just a test? Or did he want to spread terror before using his new secret weapon against the troops of the Alliance... and the Horde?

The Horde... Varian still had to grimace when he thought back to his last meeting with Thrall, the Warchief of the Orcs...

The first time they met... for a very short moment, Varian believed that peace with the Orcs might be possible. Thrall was very much like him... they both even had fought in the arena, as gladiators...

Then again, Thrall was an Orc... and Varian could never trust an Orc again. After all, wasn't it an Orc who slew his own father? And then the blind, wild fury of certain Orcs... Varian only had to think of that young warrior, Garrosh Hellscream...

"Peace with the Horde..." he muttered. "Will probably never happen..."

"That almost sounds as if you prefer war over peace..." a sofrt voice behind him spoke up. A slender hand rested on his shoulder harness for a short while.

"You don't know the Orcs like I do," Varian sighed. "They leap at the first chance to betray us... and they would use any chance to harm my bloodline. I never want Anduin to be in danger ever again..."

"It was just one Orc who killed your father," the woman said softly. She walked over to a table and put down her sword. "You yourself told me that a whole race can't be taken responsible for what a single person did."

"I was young and naive back then," Varian frowned. "I also never met the Orcs in... negotiations." The king almost spat out the word. "Every attempt was a failure..."

"You should keep trying," she said as she came closer. "If you are both fighting that enemy in the north... why not fight him together?"

"Because Orcs are blinded by their fury," Varian tried to explain. "And the Forsaken are even worse... they are blinded by their lust for revenge. Do they know honor like we do? Do they follow the path of the Light?"

"You can't win a two-sided war, Varian. It's not possible..."

He sighed. "It is. It has to be. Highlord Bolvar Fordragon is leading our troops in Northrend... I would entrust my life to him. He will do the right thing... make the right decision."

"You have become bitter, Varian," she said as she knelt down in ffront of him. She was looking at his face with worry. "Bitter and untrusting."

"How can I trust anyone after what happened to me?" Varian asked her. "I almost lost my son to that dragon, Onyxia..."

"Yes, but in the end, you saved him... both of you." She smiled. The story he had told him had been a bit strange... kidnappings, memory loss, life as a gladiator and a second Varian who was a missing part of him... still, she never had any reason to believe that he wuld lie to him. After all, they both knew each other pretty well, back in their youth...

He looked at her sternly, but with a bit of regret. "You know that under these circumstances, I can't let any troops search for signs of your family... after all, we don't even know if they are here as well or not."

"Of course," she smiled. "I know that. And knowing Genma and Ranma, they can take care of themselves."

The king of Stormwind rose from his throne. "Excuse me, Nodoka... I must prepare for my trip to Ironforge." And he left the room.

Nodoka Saotome looked after him with a deep sigh. Dressed in one of his deceased wife's dresses, she sat down on the throne and pondered her situation.

Years ago, back when she didn't know Genma, she had visited Azeroth on a regular basis... and met the young prince of Stormwind for the first time, Varian Wrynn. Back then, he was living in exile, as the Horde had destroyed his home during the First War. Nodoka never learned how she had been able to visit this land of fantasy and magic, but she was glad that she had never been forced to actually witness the brutal battlefields Varian was describing to her. The two teenagers developed a deep friendship, and for a short while, Nodoka had even developed a crush on the handsome prince...

Now, as a married woman and mother of a teenage son, she suddenly found herself back in the magical kingdom of her youth... and her prince had become a king, a strong ruler, and a bitter man who had lived through a wondrous adventure.

Nodoka had never heard of her son's similar experiences with Sylvanas, since Genma had never told her about it. Now that she was stuck here in Azeroth, she couldn't help but wonder if she was the only one who got here from another world...

"Ranma..." she whispered and looked up at the ceiling of the huge throne room. "Wherever you are, I hope you are safe..."


	22. Crossing the sea

Ranma opened his eyes. For a while, he couldn't tell where he was. He didn't know for how long he'd been unconscious. All he knew that he had been plagued with nightmares in his sleep, nightmares of Akane displaying her cruelty, the cruelty of the Scourge, of Arthas, the Lich King, displaying her corrupted body and soul and all the horrible deeds she has planned for all of Azeroth. He also heard her voice whispering him, what a fool he was to oppose her and the Scourge and to believe that he might ever defeat her.

But now, Ranma found himself in a warm, comfortable place. He felt the softness of a bed beneath him and a blanket on top of him. He saw wooden planks above his head and it felt as if the whole room was rocking up and down.

A gentle hand then touched his cheek. "Ranma," a voice said to him. "Ranma, you're finally awake!"

He turned his head and was surprised to see his mother sitting next to his bed. But Ranma was way too tired to express this surprise in anything but a weak: "Hey, Mom…"

Nodoka smiled down at him. "I'm so glad you're okay. You've slept almost a whole week. We had to forcefeed you… and that illness… never mind." She sighed and took his hand. "I'm so, so happy that you're fine now."

"Mom… what happened?" Ranma then muttered. He looked around and tried pushing his body up in a sitting body. His mother gently pushed him back to bed. He didn't even have the strength to resist her. "Where are we?" he asked. "How did you come to be here? And what happened to the others? Kasumi… Azusa… Syl…"

"I'll explain everything to you," she said. "But you need to rest for now. At least you managed to survive that horrible plague. The healer told me you'd be back to normal soon enough after a good night's sleep. Tomorrow, we can talk."

Ranma didn't feel like protesting, so he weakly nodded and said: "Okay, Mom."

She smiled. "That's my boy. Don't you worry, you're safe here. And I will be nearby, so you can rest easy."

And almost immediately after hearing that, Ranma felt how his eyes closed and he fell back to sleep. But it was a pleasant, invigorating sleep this time around and no bad dreams were plaguing him.

When he awoke the next time, he found himself in the same room as before. This time, however, he was alone. He tried moving and found that he felt a lot stronger than the first time he woke up. He sat up in bed and noticed that he wore nothing but short underwear. He then took a look around and saw that he was inside a very small room, almost completely made of wood, with only one small door and no windows.

Just when he wanted to climb out of bed, the door opened and a young, blonde woman in a white robe came in. "Oh," she said. "So you're awake. That's good. Stay in bed for now, I'll bring you something to eat. You must be famished."

Suddenly Ranma noticed just how hungry he was. He rubbed his hand over his stomach and nodded with a smile. "Yes, some food would be nice." Food sounded heavenly.

"I'll bring you some soup," the woman said. "And then, I'll inform your mother and His Majesty. Oh, by the way… I'm Healer Miranda. I've treated your illness while you were unconscious."

"Oh… thank you," Ranma told her.

"Just doing my job," she smiled as she closed the door behind her. Ranma lay back down on his bed and sighed. Just how many days had passed since the battle in Andorhal? His mother had said it was almost a whole week. And what exactly did happen? All he remembered that Akane hit him with her hammer… the sickly green glowing war hammer she had wielded. And she wore that black armor… and rode on an undead dragon… and she sided with all the ghouls, skeletons, zombies…

He covered his head with his pillow. He couldn't think about it without getting mad. For now, he simply hoped that Kasumi and the others were well. Especially Sylvanas…

Sylvanas… he then remembered… he remembered how they were saved by a group of humans, dwarves and high elves. Alliance troops, obviously. Would they have spared Sylvanas? After all, she was a Forsaken and an important leader within the Horde. Ranma already knew that much. He wasn't quite that dense as Ryoga always said.

The door opened again. Miranda was back, with a bowl of steaming soup in her hands. But she wasn't alone. Ranma's mother was right behind her.

Ranma licked his lips when he smelled the soup… but before he had the chance to take a sip, he was hugged by his mother. "Ranma! Are you feeling better?" she asked him.

"Yeah, lots better," he nodded. "And I guess I owe it to her," he said, gesturing to the healer.

"Indeed we do. Thank you so much for saving my son, Miss…"

Miranda smiled. "No need to thank me. It was my pleasure. I'll leave you two alone for now. If you need something, just call me." And then she left.

Nodoka pulled a chair close to her son's bed. "Well, aren't you hungry?" she smirked.

Ranma just nodded and took the bowl. He reached for the spoon… but then shrugged and simply drank directly from the bowl. His mother watched him with amusement as he swallowed the last drop of the soup.

"You're just like your father when it comes to food," she snickered.

"Yeah," Ranma smirked back. "But I could do with some more."

"Maybe later, dear," she said. "There are a couple of things you need to know, I think."

Ranma put down the bowl and nodded. "Yeah, I'd say so… for starters… where are we?"

"Okay, you are currently on board of an Alliance ship. We left Stormwind two days ago and are on our way to Dalaran, in Northrend."

"Northrend… Mom, that's where that Lich King guy is! It's too dangerous for you to go there!"

"Dalaran is a neutral city for both Horde and Alliance, and I am well protected, son," Nodoka said. "We're not the only ones on our way there. King Varian of Stormwind is on board, as well as dwarven king Magni Bronzebeard. They all want to attend a meeting between the highest leaders of both the Horde and the Alliance. They were invited by Rhonin, leading mage of the Kirin Tor, the mages that rule Dalaran."

Ranma could only blink.

"I guess it's a surprise for you that I know this much about Azeroth, isn't it?" she said. "Very well, I guess I owe you an explanation, son." She took a deep breath. "King Varian… I know him very well. Back when I was your age, I came to Azeroth quite often. And every time I came here, I met Varian. Ah, those days…" she sighed. "Unfortunately, I was unable to meet him for a long time…"

"Just… just like with me and Sylvanas…" Ranma murmured.

A more stern expression appeared on Nodoka's face. "Yes, Ranma. I do believe that it's very similar. Just like how Azusa-chan met that Gnoll she always speaks about… I had some time to talk to her during the trip."

"Azusa's here, too?" Ranma asked in surprise.

"Yes. She and Kasumi and everyone else. Varian and Rhonin don't really often come to an agreement, but this time, they both agreed that it's best to assemble all those who have come to Azeroth the way we did. And I do believe there are more than you, I, Azusa and… and Akane."

Not wanting to touch that subject yet, Ranma quickly asked: "So Sylvana's here, too?"

He noticed how Nodoka's lips were pressed tightly together. "Yes, she has diplomatic immunity for the time being. Ranma, I won't lie to you. Most people aboard this ship would like to see her dead… and not just undead."

"But it's not her fault she's like this," Ranma protested. "Arthas attacked her country and turned her into this. And then controlled her until she managed to regain her free will."

"I know. Varian and I had… quite the interesting talk with her. But Ranma, do you know what she did even after regaining her free will? She willingly joined the Horde, and if you know what I heard about the horrible experiments that were conducted in her city…"

"Is joining the Horde that bad?" Ranma asked with a frown.

Nodoka sighed. "Ranma… I may be prejudiced because Varian is an old friend of mine, but I have tried to appeal to him. I don't think the ongoing war is good for both sides. However, you have to agree that the Forsaken have done questionable things."

"Maybe… but Sylvana's still a nice girl," Ranma muttered.

"Ranma, even her sister said that she's appalled by what Sylvanas has become."

Now Ranma looked at his mother in surprise. "Her sister?"

Nodoka nodded. "Her younger sister, Vereesa… she and her Silver Covenant forces saved you from the Scourge, back at Andorhal. She is Rhonin's wife."

"Just swell…" Ranma grumbled.

"Unlike Varian, Rhonin is trying to find a solution for everyone," Nodoka said. "Representatives of the Horde are on their way to Dalaran as well."

"All of a sudden?" Ranma wondered. "From what I heard, they didn't really want to try diplomacy anymore."

"The situation has changed, Ranma," Nodoka said. "The Scourge has become too strong… I convinced Varian that they need to talk to the Horde's warchief. And he convinced the king of the dwarves."

"And we're stuck right in the middle…" Ranma sighed. "Just great…"

"Ranma… I… I heard about Akane… I'm so sorry…"

Ranma looked into his mother's eyes, and for the first time ever since he woke up, the truth hit him. Akane wasn't the same. She was a Death Knight. An agent of the Scourge. The champion of the Lich King. She attacked him. She threatened Kasumi. She didn't feel any remorse.

"Akane… Akane is dead…" he whispered. "That monster is not her…"

Nodoka saw the tears in her son's eyes and gave him a comforting hug. There were times to be manly, but considering what happened, she was proud of her son, proud that he was able not to have a nervous breakdown like Kasumi had. She hadn't told Ranma yet, but Kasumi's health had been in a far worse condition by the time they found her. Even thought she wasn't hit by Akane's attack, the traumatic events had hurt her heart and soul more than any weapon could. Fortunately, she was more or less okay by now.

They heard a cough coming from the door. Neither of them had noticed that someone had entered. Ranma looked at the huge, muscular man who towered over him and wore the most impressive armor and fur cape. He had the wild gaze of a wolf and his hair was long and unkempt. A long scar was running across his face. Ranma realized who this man must be.

Nodoka let go of him and stood up. "Ranma… this is Varian Wrynn, King of Stormwind. Varian, I'd like you to meet my son, Ranma Saotome."

Ranma wasn't really someone who usually showed his respect towards authority figures, but this time, he made an exception. He stiffly stood up and gave the king a short, formal bow.

Varian nodded in reply as he came closer. "So… you are the son Nodoka has told me so much about. I am pleased to finally meet you, Ranma. I welcome you aboard my flagship. And I am glad to see you've recovered from that nasty plague."

"Thank you, sir, um… Your Majesty," Ranma said. "And yeah… thanks for watching out for my Mom. I mean, um… I'd do the same for Sylvanas."

Varian's face darkened after hearing the name of the Forsaken Queen. "Ranma, let me be honest with you," he said, sitting down on another chair, which creaked underneath his weight. "I don't like this… woman aboard my ship. I didn't kill her when I saw her because Rhonin invited her as well and I only allow her on my ship because her sister asked me to. And because you, Nodoka's son, seem to be a good… friend of her. However, I need you to understand that she is not the same person you came to know as a High Elf. Even Vereesa agreed on that…"

"No! I know she's still the same! Undead or not, she's still Sylvanas Windrunner! I refuse to abandon her! She and her people never asked for it!" Ranma protested.

"Ranma!" Nodoka said in a scolding voice.

Varian's scowl deepened. "They never asked for it. That's an argument I haven't heard for the first time. The Forsaken are the undead residents of Lordaeron and they have a right to live in their old kingdom, is that so? Well then, what about those residents of Lordaeron that are still alive? That managed to escape the Plague? The members of the Argent Dawn and the Scarlet Crusade. And all the civilians that escaped to Stormwind or other kingdoms. Aren't they humans of Lordaeron, too? Don't they deserve to live in their homeland? But no, the Forsaken claim that this land is only for them. How about that, boy?"

Ranma bit his lip. He hadn't thought of it that way. "Still… can you blame them? What happened to them is…"

"I can't blame them, you tell me. But I can blame them for what they've done as undead, can I? I can blame them for siding with the Horde! For killing all living humans that come to Tirisfal Glades! For all those blasphemic experiments, for all those they have tortured and killed in the laboratories of their apothecarys! Boy, if there is one thing you need to understand, it's this: The Forsaken are NOT innocent!"

"But Sylvanas is not…" Ranma tried to protest once more.

"She has a DEMON in her court!" Varian shouted. "Doesn't that tell you anything? I don't know what Rhonin expects from this meeting and can't begin to understand what he believes we should do with the Forsaken, but I can't forgive them or the Orcs! I agreed for this meeting because your mother asked me, but I can never believe that there can be EVER peace between the Alliance and the Horde! We are just too different! I need you to realize that, boy! And I want you to ask yourself: Do you really want to side with the Horde?"

"I'm not interested in this political bullshit!" Ranma spat. The respect he had towards this man was all but gone. "I'm not siding with the Horde, I'm siding with my friends! And Sylvanas is my friend, as are Kasumi, Azusa, Ukyo, Ryoga and anyone else I know from Nerima! Well, except maybe Kuno, but he's an idiot."

Varian glared at Ranma, then he turned to face his friend. "I've talked to him, Nodoka. That's all I can do. If you would excuse me, I have more important things to take care of than talking to a rebellious TEENAGER!" He turned around and left the cabin, closing the door behind him.

Nodoka sighed as she looked at her son. "Ranma, that is no way to talk to a king. And Varian only means well. He…"

"He doesn't even try to get along with others, that's what you wanted to say?" Ranma snorted. "I'm sorry, Mom, but I don't think I can ever get along with that 'friend' of yours." He stood up and saw his clothes lying next to his bed, freshly cleaned. He quickly put them on, then he walked to the door.

"Ranma, where are you going?" his mother asked.

"I need some fresh air…" he grumbled.

Nodoka sighed as she was left alone in the room. "Well, that could have gone better…"

* * *

While the Alliance's flagship was crossing the sea, another ship was also on its way to Northrend. However, this one was an airship, held airborne by two large balloons and manned by the best engineers and warriors of the Horde. It was the Orgrim's Hammer, one of the latest and best accomplishments that Goblin engineering had to offer. It was the flagship of Warchief Thrall, and Thrall was one of the persons it was now carrying from Kalimdor to Northrend.

Another person was wearing in a corner of the main deck, a slightly annoyed expression on his face. He looked up every time a crew member came running past him. He wore a spotted bandana and a sturdy leather vest with the crest of the Tauren Bloodhoof tribe on it.

A brown-haired girl approached him, also wearing leather armor, although it was much lighter than the vest the boy got from the Tauren. She also carried a huge battle spatula on her back.

"Hey sugar, what are you doing out here, doing nothing?" Ukyo grinned. "Dontcha think the crew could use a hand?"

"Nabiki's fault," Ryoga grumbled. "She told me to stay in this spot and never move until we arrive in Northrend, or else I'd get lost. But what annoys me the most… I'm afraid she'd be right." With a groan, he let his head sink.

Ukyo smirked. "Poor Ryoga! But listening to Nabiki would be advisable, I'd say. After all, if she hadn't make you stay around her, you'd have missed our reunion at Orgrimmar."

Ryoga thought back. After the message of the meeting at Dalaran reached Thunder Bluff, Cairne decided to send his most trusted friend to the meeting… Ryoga himself. Naturally, Nabiki had pointed out at once that this was a bad idea and that Ryoga might end up in Stranglethorn instead of Northrend. In the end, it was decided that she'd accompany Ryoga to Orgrimmar, where the boy would introduce himself to Warchief Thrall and join his crew aboard the Orgrim's Hammer.

He and Nabiki were very surprised to find Ukyo and Shampoo already on board, the amazon wearing a tabard of the Warsong Clan and the okonomiyaki chef wearing the armor of the Silverwing Sentinels. They had enough time to catch up, though. As Thrall put it: It's going to be a long trip.

"If you ask me, Nabiki's just glad she has an excuse for not going back to Gazlowe," Ryoga grumbled. "She tells me all the time that trading me for the fish would make her the winner of the bet, but you know, I think she's somewhat nervous because she knows better than pulling a fast one on a goblin."

Ukyo chuckled. "Looks like Nabiki found her master."

"So what happened to that knight Shampoo told me about?" Ryoga asked her. "The one who came to Orgrimmar with you…"

Ukyo made a face. "I'm honestly glad that he's gone! He was a real pain… Thrall said that the Orcs wouldn't really like having an overzealous member of the Alliance on board, a follower of the light and a knight with an ego the size of Mt. Fuji on top of that. Sir Halvar actually seemed relieved that he didn't have to come. So he went back to Theramore. And with King Varian being at the meeting, I doubt they'd even need him there. Though I wonder why they insisted we'd come along. Nabiki's not even a warrior."

"Yeah, and the other Orcs don't even seem to be too happy to have you on board either," Ryoga nodded.

"That's only because of the armor I'm wearing," Ukyo said through gritted teeth. "I swear, with you being a representative of the Tauren and Shampoo being the friend of that shaman, I'm surprised they still see me as part of the Alliance just because of what I'm wearing."

"Well, maybe if you'd accept Thrall's offer for a new set of armor…"

The chef shook her head. "No, this is a present of Tyrande and I'm going to honor it. For every time I was with Malfurion, I owe that much to the Night Elves."

Ryoga coughed nervously. "Um… you don't think she's still angry that I appeared in her bedroom that other day, huh?"

That made Ukyo giggle. "Well, you certainly made an impression in Darnassus, that's for sure. But you can ask her yourself when we arrive in Dalaran… she's using portal magic to go there."

They looked up when they heard approaching footsteps. To their surprise, they saw Nabiki and the troll leader, the shadow hunter Vol'jin, walking past them, chatting like old buddies.

"See, the poison goes dere, mon," Vol'jin said, gesturing at the tip of a black dart that Nabiki was holding. "As long as the enemy doesn't see you, he be flat down in seconds. No risk involved… as long as he has some body skin exposed."

"Interesting…" Nabiki murmured. "However, I'm even more curious about this whole stealth thing… you can show me a couple tricks?"

"Sure thing, mon!" the troll grinned broadly. "Anything for a good pal of Gazlowe!"

Ukyo and Ryoga looked at them aghast.

"You're learning rogue tricks from a troll?" Ukyo then blurted out.

"Well, why not?" Nabiki asked smugly. "First thing I learned after arriving at the Crossroads: Being a good merchant does not help when you're faced with a boulder-sized fist… or an axe that's going to chop off your smart little head. I didn't ask to be here, but I still want to survive a bit longer. I'm not strong enough to be a warrior and the shamans were unable to find any trace of mana within me. So if I'm going to defend myself, it's going to be through stealth and trickery."

"Um… I dunno what to say…" Ryoga muttered, scratching his head. "Except that it somehow… fits you."

The middle Tendo sister smirked. "I'll take that as a compliment. Who knows… if that Death Knight woman who laid waste to Feathermoon Stronghold and Camp Mojache appears, I could be the one who saves the day."

Vol'jin's expression grew grim. "I wouldn't even joke about dat, mon! Never come close to a Death Knight! Even if you somehow find a spot dat's not covered by his unholy armor… most of them are dead anyways, and who knows what poisons work against the undead. They're bad mojo, dat's what I'm telling you!"

Nabiki grimaced. "Okay, okay, I got it… see a Death Knight, stay out of view."

"I'm serious, mon! The one time I saw one of them in action… one of my best hunters was frozen stiff and then shattered to pieces by the massive runeblade the knight was holding. Another one was swarmed by disgusting grubs he summoned… it wasn't a pretty sight, lemme tell you."

The rogue trainee gulped. Now she hoped that she'd never get to know a Death Knight personally…

* * *

Author's Notes:

You might realize that the Warcraft timeline is a bit scrambled in my fic. Illidan is still alive and Kael'thas hasn't tried yet to summon Kil'jaeden to this world, yet Dalaran is already a neutral city for both Horde and Alliance. Also, Varimathras is still part of Sylvanas' court. The storylines for Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King are a bit merged, you could say. I hope you can put that little bit of inconsistence aside and still enjoy the story.

I'm glad to be finally able to continue this.


	23. The squire of Tirion Fordring

Sylvanas stood at the bow of the ship, weaponless. She could feel the glares of the sailors and marine soldiers that were busy behind her. She knew they feared her. Hated her. She paid them no attention. She knew that, even without her bow, she could kill each one of them in a matter of seconds. But she just kept on looking ahead, in the direction the ship was taking. North, to Northrend… where the Lich King was.

She heard footsteps coming up behind her and a soft voice that said: "I somehow thought I'd find you here."

Sylvanas didn't turn her head. Neither did she react when her sister Vereesa stepped next to her. Her silver hair spilled out from underneath her azure blue cowl, and her body was clad in the leather harness and the tabard that marked her as the Ranger General of the Silver Covenant. For a moment, the two sisters stood next to each other, neither saying a word.

"I didn't really get the chance to talk to you ever since… you know what happened," Vereesa finally spoke up.

"What do you want, Vereesa?" Slyvanas snorted. "Do you want me to see the 'errors of my ways'? To beg for your forgiveness? Or are you just happy to see your long lost sister?"

"No," Vereesa replied in a calm voice, even though she narrowed her shining blue eyes. "I was merely hoping there was just a trace left of the old Sylvanas, the proud Ranger General of Silvermoon… I guess I already knew the answer, though."

"Then why waste my time?" Sylvanas grumbled. "If you have anything better to do, don't try this again. I am not a High Elf anymore, and neither am I a Ranger General… I'm the Banshee Queen of the Forsaken, nothing more, nothing less!"

"Is it just undeath that made you this bitter?" Vereesa whispered. "Did Arthas steal all of your soul? After all, you regained your free will…"

"Arthas will pay what he has done," Sylvanas snarled. "But neither you or your glorious Alliance will be of any help… I have everything I need. The Lich King will come to realize that the Forsaken will be his downfall, given some time."

Vereesa sighed. She knew talking to Sylvanas was of no use. She had realized some time ago that her sister had become a new person in every regard. The Sylvanas of old was, to all intents and purposes, dead.

"He is the same boy, isn't he?" she said, suddenly changing the subject. "The human boy you told me about back when we were young… the one who played with you in Eversong Forest."

"Ranma? Why do you ask? He isn't of more importance to me than you are," Sylvanas snorted.

"Well, after what I've heard, he has stayed in your Undercity for quite some time…"

"He is a formidable warrior, an excellent weapon to use against the Scourge!" Sylvanas shouted, turning to face her sister for the first time. "Don't you make any mistakes, Vereesa! He is a human like any other! The only reason why I haven't offered him to join the ranks of the Forsaken is that he's appalled by anything undead… and he'd leave my services as soon as I'd suggest anything like that! But as a person, I couldn't care less about him! He is a naïve idiot who still believes that girl Arthas made his newest pet could still be saved! What a fool… just like you!"

"Wha… what do you mean by that?" Vereesa asked.

"Well, you still seem to cling to the false hope that Alleria is still alive, don't you?"

"Leave Alleria out of this! And why do you care? You have no concept of hope! As long as there is no proof for her death, I won't be ready to accept it!" Vereesa snapped back.

"She went into the ruins of Draenor to die! Accept the simple truth! Not even her companions know where she and her Paladin boyfriend are."

"Her husband," Vereesa grumbled. "A husband as beloving as my own… if there was a trace left of my sister in you, you'd be at least glad to hear that you have nephews…"

"You know what? You are right! I couldn't care less about your brats!" Sylvanas shouted.

Vereesa's hand darted to her belt, where an elven dagger was hanging. She managed to refrain herself from pulling it, though.

"Don't you talk in such a way about my children!" Vereesa hissed. The two Windrunners glared at each other fiercely.

In that moment, Nodoka and Kasumi came walking by, talking to each other.

"…so you see, Kasumi-chan, the Light is what gives most of the people of Stormwind hope, and even though he's not a Paladin, Varian is a firm believer in the light…"

"That all sounds so interesting, Auntie!" Kasumi said with a smile.

Then they noticed the sisters and stopped their conversation.

"Oh my…" Kasumi said. "I hope we're not interrupting anything…"

Sylvanas just gave Vereesa a final glare, then she huffed and left the scene, pushing Nodoka out of her way.

The Saotome matriarch frowned, her hand resting on the hilt of her ever-present katana. "My, how rude! She certainly has no manners! I fail to understand what Ranma sees in her."

"Oh, I'm sure she can't be all bad if Ranma still wants to be her friend," Kasumi smiled.

"Believe me, she is," Vereesa sighed. "For a long time, I've hoped that there might be hope for her… but there is nothing good left in her. All she can feel is hatred and bitterness. There is no blood running through her veins and no warmth in her actions. She has become a cold, ruthless queen of the undead."

Kasumi was at a loss of words. In all her life, she had never been able to imagine a person that was anything like what Vereesa had described. So she merely muttered a weak: "Oh my…"

* * *

A gleeful smile appeared on the face of the Blood Elf warlock called Nargol when he and his companions stepped out of the Terrokar Forest and onto the ravaged Shadowmoon Valley. 'Finally…' he thought. 'Made it back to Outland… without being detected by the forces or Alliance, or the minions loyal to Illidan… my master will be pleased.'

He let his hand slip into the small, inconspicuous leather pouch that was dangling from his belt and felt the smoothness of the round object that was inside. He imagined how he'd step in front of his Prince Kael'thas and give it to him…

A loud roar and the surprised shouts of his followers pulled him out of his thoughts. 'No… not now!' he thought. 'I was so close…'

He turned around and saw how three leviathans in the color of azure came descending from the colorful skies of Outland… and the middle dragon was the size of a human battleship.

"CAUGHT UP WITH YOU!" the blue dragon roared as she and the other two landed close to the small group of Blood Elves. The ground beneath their feet seemed to shake from the impact. "You may have tricked that useless idiot Cyan, but not the Prime Consort of the Aspect of Magic, Saragosa!"

"Attack them!" Nargol commanded his followers.

"Are you crazy?" one of the elves blurted out. "I'm not fighting three dragons at once!"

"Wise words," the female dragon chuckled. "But don't think you'll get out of this without paying for your crimes… stealing from the great Malygos? How very, very foolish…" She took a step forwards, so that her right front foot was directly in front of the panicking elves. With a smug expression of superiority, she looked down at them. "And now… hand back the Dimensional Seal!" And she looked directly at the leather pouch Nargol was holding.

Nargol went as white as a sheet. 'No,' he thought. 'She knows where it is.'

"Over my dead body, dragon!" he yelled and hurled a Shadow Bolt at her.

Saragosa didn't even flinch. She grinned, though. "Very nice. My turn!" She opened her gaping maw and breathed a cloud of freezing cold at the elves. Some of them screeched in pain, but their voices became silent when they all were encased in a thick layer of ice.

Saragosa continued to chuckle at herself as she shrunk down to the size of a human. In the guise of a blue-robed, black-haired human, she walked up to the frozen Nargol. She saw the horror in his eyes, even in his frozen state.

"You silly mortals and your magics… don't you know that all the magic belongs to Malygos? As does this small, powerful artifact… you are not worthy to hold it." She looked at the pouch Nargol was still holding in his hands. It was frozen solid. "Oh my," she said to herself. "It's stuck to his hands. Whatever shall I do?"

She stepped back and snapped her fingers… and one of the dragons that accompanied her brought down his massive talon on the frozen form of the hapless warlock. Saragosa watched with no remorse how the elf was shattered into hundred little pieces.

She picked up the Dimensional Seal… there was no scratch on the glowing orb.

"Malygos will be pleased," she nodded to herself. "I really do hope he won't let his soft spot on Tyrigosa affect his actions this time… the little brat really needs to be taught a lesson for the chaos she caused by using this thing."

She turned back into her true, dragonic form. She was certain that Malygos would agree with her this time. Also, to make up for Tyrigosa's mistake, the humans that came to Azeroth from that other dimension would have to be eradicated…

She and the other dragons spread their wings and took flight. "Back to Azeroth and Coldarra!" she commanded.

The ice that still covered the rest of Nargol's group melted some time later. Nargol's lieutenant, a young Blood Elf with short, spiky red hair, grimaced when he looked down at his the warlock's remains.

"What do we do now?" another elf asked.

"What do you think?" the lieutenant murmured. "We'll get away from here as fast as we can. I don't want to face the wrath of the master when he finds out that we failed…"

Suddenly, loud screeches were coming from all around them. The elves drew their weapons, but found themselves surrounded by demons… and not any demons. They were felguards of the Illidari.

"I wouldn't worry, little elf!" one of the hulking creatures laughed. "Instead, worry about the wrath of Illidan!"

* * *

In the highest tower of the Violet Citadel, seat of the Kirin Tor, the ruling council of mages over Dalaran, Rhonin let his gaze sweep across the city, the frozen wastes of Northrend and the endless seas that lie behind it.

"Are you impatiently awaiting their arrival?" a deep, amused voice spoke up behind him.

Rhonin turned around and smiled when he saw his guest entering the room. "Well, they are something our world has never seen before… and their arrival has triggered several of the recent events… events that we need to talk about. I'm glad you could make it."

"I wouldn't miss it," Tirion Fordring smiled as the two men shook hands. The elderly paladin and the young mage were as different as two humans could be, but at the same time, had quite a few things in common… one thing was their hope that one day, Alliance and Horde could put aside their differences and work together against their enemies.

"If the rumors are true, however… the Lich King himself already has one of those champions from another world on his side," Fordring remarked grimly. "This new Death Knight that caused destruction and chaos in Kalimdor…"

Rhonin nodded. "Yes, it appears to be true. One of the mages that accompanied Vereesa returned yesterday, using a teleport spell… and according to her, the young man that seems to be quite fond of her sister – which I must say find quite curious – also seems to have personal ties to that same Death Knight."

Fordring frowned. "Like the rest of us, he will come to realize that the black knights of the death aren't the same as before…" And his thoughts turned to what had happened to the wielder of the Ashbringer… Alexandros Mograine and his son, Darion Mograine.

Just then, a young man came barging into the room. He put his hand to the metal breastplate, which he was wearing, together with a tabard of the Argent Dawn. "Lord Fordring! As you commanded, the troops have found quarter, the steeds are in the stables and the equipment has been stored in the warehouses."

Fordring nodded. "Good, well done! Still, should you not greet our host?"

"My apologies!" the young, short-haired man said as he bowed in Rhonin's direction. "Mylord, I thank you in the name of my lord that you granted us shelter in your enchanted city high above the frozen wasteland."

"Well, you are a well-spoken lad, aren't you?" Rhonin chuckled. He looked at Fordring. "Your new squire?"

"While I never intended to take one, yes, that is him," Fordring nodded. "Archmage Rhonin, this is Tatewaki Kuno."

"At your service!" Kuno said while bowing his head. He then turned to face the paladin. "Lord Fordring, now that my task is done, I await your next orders."

"My orders?" Fordring frowned. "Well, I guess my next orders will be that you go back to the inn, have a decent meal, a good rest and…" He sniffed. "A change of clothes. You're still wearing the same armor I offered you back at the chapel."

Kuno bowed again. "It will happen as my lord says." And after another bow to Rhonin, he was gone.

Rhonin raised an eyebrow. "Quite eager, isn't he?"

Fordring sighed. "If only he'd try and use his own head for a change… he is strong, courageous and loyal to me ever since we met, but I'm afraid he also is a bit… thick-headed." He shook his head, then looked back at Rhonin. "He is one of them, you know?"

"A… visitor from the other world, you say?" Rhonin rubbed his chin. "Interesting… they seem to be multiplying by the minute. How did you meet him?"

"Well, it happened shortly before I received your message about this meeting… I was, once again, fighting against the Scourge in the Easter Plaguelands with the Argent Dawn, when we ran into this remarkable young man who took on twelve ghouls all by himself, using a piece of wood…"

* * *

"BACK OFF! Foul creatures, now you shall taste the blade of Kuno! Take me away from this cursed place at once! YA-TA-TA-TA-TAAAAA!" And the young kendoist in the blue hakama attacked the swarm of ghouls with multiple stabs of his bokken.

Then he heard the clopping of hooves and a powerful voice that shouted: "Hang in there, boy! Help is on the way!"

And Tatewaki watched how an elderly man, clad in the most noble of armors, riding atop a white steed, charged the rotten creatures and struck them with the enormous hammer he was holding.

"For the Light!" Tirion Fordring shouted as he battled the Scourge. His weapon shattered the skulls of the ghouls, and his hands guided the Light itself to smite the undead.

"A… a noble warrior has arived to assist the son of the House Kuno in battle…" Kuno murmured, impressed by the sight. "Do my eyes see him striking down with holy powers? Surely, these must have been granted to him by Amaterasu herself… if not a Samurai, then he must be a holy warrior of another kind."

After finishing the last ghoul with a powerful blow, the paladin wiped his brow and turned to face the boy he just saved. "That was pretty close, boy…" He was surprised when he saw how the youngster was kneeling before him, holding his wooden sword as if presenting it to him.

"My lord… I am at your service! Accept this follower, from the noble house of Kuno, into your services, and I will serve you with body and heart!"

Tirion blinked. "Well, that is surprising…" he muttered.

* * *

"Was he very shocked when he found out that he's in a different world?" Rhonin asked.

"It's a bit hard to tell…" Fordring said. "All he said was: It must have been a spell of the wicked sorceror Saotome which brought me to this land where demons roam. He also told me that his sister vanished shortly before he appeared in the Plaguelands… maybe she is one of the visitors that are on their way here."

* * *

The Blood Elf groaned as the felguard pushed him forward. He stumbled and fell down on the hard floor of the Black Temple… before the feet of Illidan Stormrage.

Illidan waited for any sort of reaction, but the elf didn't say anything. Around him, Lady Vashj and the rest of his personal advisors waited for their lord's orders to execute the traitors.

Finally, he sighed and said: "If you are truly one of my followers… what did you do at the edge of Terrokar Forest? What mission brought you there?"

"We… we were ordered to bring a powerful artifact to our prince."

"Kael'thas, you say?" Illidan asked. "Strange… he never told me anything about an artifact. I certainly did not give him the order to do so."

"Ohohohohoh!" Kodachi laughed as she skipped at Illidan's side. "Most certainly these lowly pawns lie to you, my lord… do they expect you to believe that one of YOUR followers is willing to betray you? And face your wrath? I don't think so."

Illidan had to smile when he looked at her… even though 'looking' wasn't exactly the correct term for his demonic senses. He still was able to picture her in the tight-fitting leather outfit, a variant of the common Sayaad uniform, although one that didn't reveal as much skin and was more protective, with thick padded shoulder and hip guards and spiked armlets. From her belt, a thorny whip was dangling. She was the dark angel at his side, the ray of hope in the darkness he was living in, his new second-in-command that could come up with all sorts of amusing punishments for those that dared to fail him.

"Maybe you are right, Kodachi," he said. "I still think it's best if I ask him in person… minions, inform Prince Kael'thas that I need to speak to him as soon as possible… and I want to hold this conversation here, in my room."

One of the assembled demons nodded and hurried outside. At this moment, nobody was looking at the elf who was crouching in front of the lord of Outland.

Nargol's lieutenant, a warlock like his superior, knew that his life was forfeit… And even though he was afraid of Illidan's powers, he was still fiercely loyal to his prince… and he knew what fate would await him if Illidan found out about his plans. So he drew into the dark energies all warlocks had access to and hurled a single bolt of shadows at the demonic Night Elf, in the weak hope that it would at least incapacitate him.

"My lord! Look out!" Kodachi gasped… as she jumped directly into the shadow bolt's flight path, to shield her beloved Lord Illidan from harm.

"KODACHI!" Illidan shouted when she darkness enveloped her body. She groaned and fell backwards, into his strong arms.

"I-illidan… sama…" she uttered weakly.

"You traitorous maggot!" the felguard standing behind the elf shouted as he impaled him with his left arm. Nargol's lieutenant let out a strangled gasp, then fell down to the floor, as dead as his master.

Illidan scooped Kodachi's limp form up in his arms. "Vashj, I'm bringing her to my personal chambers… until I return, you are in charge. Execute the rest of the traitors and make sure Kael'thas comes here as fast as possible!"

"As… assss you command, Lord Illidan!" the surprised naga said.

Upon reaching his personal quarters, Illidan closed the massive door behind him, and then gently put Kodachi down on a bed.

"Kodachi… right after Tyrande, you are the next person I would never want to lose…" he muttered. He then began to focus his demonic powers as he crouched next to her and raised his hands. A green glow surrounded them. Then, the fel energies began to sink down, into Kodachi's body. "I have all these powers… and I'll be damned if I can't use them to save your life!"


End file.
